Bootless thy struggles; the slaves hold thee fast!
The first falls, the second, the third and last!
They are sped, and thy weeping and wailing are vain.
Their blood drenches the ground, while thou, in thy pain,
Ere the burning steel seareth the sight from thine eyes,
Seest how Israel’s race and kingship dies.
Zedekiah
[Groping his way across the room like a blind man, staggers to the couch. Now he puts up his hands beseechingly] Mercy! Have mercy!
Jeremiah
By thy cries all in vain will the darkness be riven,