Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old; when her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and no one helped her. The adversaries saw her. They mocked at her desolations.
Lamentations 1:5 Her adversaries have become the head. Her enemies prosper; for Yahweh has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her young children have gone into captivity before the adversary.
Lamentations 1:6 All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture. They have gone without strength before the pursuer.
Lamentations 1:7 Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old; when her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and no one helped her. The adversaries saw her. They mocked at her desolations.
Lamentations 1:8 Jerusalem has grievously sinned. Therefore she has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. Yes, she sighs, and turns backward.
Lamentations 1:9 Her filthiness was in her skirts. She didn’t remember her latter end. Therefore she has come down astoundingly. She has no comforter. “See, Yahweh, my affliction; for the enemy has magnified himself.”
The verse centers on "jerusalem", "remembers", "days", "affliction", "miseries", "pleasant", and "things". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jerusalem" and "remembers", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 6's "All majesty has departed from the daughter..." into verse 8's "Jerusalem has grievously sinned Therefore she has...", so "jerusalem" and "remembers" belong inside that flow. In Lamentations context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "jerusalem" and "remembers" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.