The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

i. 1-7.] DESOLATION 103
Coming nearer to the city in his mental vision, the
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** poet next bewails deserted roads ; those ways of Zion
up which the holiday folks used to troop, clad in gay
garments, with songs of rejoicing, are left so lonely
that it seems as though they themselves must be mourning.
It is in keeping with the imagery of these poems
which personify the city, to endow the very roads
with fancied consciousness. This is a natural result
of intense emotion, and therefore a witness to its
very intensity. It seems as though the very earth
must share in the feelings of the man whose heart is
stirred to its depths ; as though all things must be filled
with the passion the waves of which flow out to the
horizon of his consciousness, till the very stones cry
out.
As he approaches the city, the poet is struck with
a strange, sad sight. There are no people about the
yet here, if anywhere, we should expect to meet
gates ;
not only travellers passing through, but also groups of
men, merchants at their traffic, arbitrators settling dis-
putes, friends exchanging confidences, idlers lounging
about and chewing the cud of the latest gossip, beggars
whining for alms ; for by the gates are markets, alfresco
tribunals, open spaces for public meetings. Formerly
the life of the city was here concentrated ; now no trace
of life is to be seen even at these social ganglia. The
desertion and silence of the gateways gives a shock of
distress to the visitor on entering the ruined city.
More disappointments await him within the walls. Still
keeping in mind the idea of the national festivals, and
accompanying the course of them in imagination, the
poet goes up to the temple. No services are proceed-
ing ; 'any priests who may be found still haunting the
precincts of the charred ruins can only sigh over their