| WE'VE read in legends of the books of old |
| How deft Bezalel, wisest in his trade, |
| At the command of veilèd Moses made |
| The seven-branched candlestick of beaten gold— |
| The base, the shaft, the cups, the knops, the flowers, |
| Like almond blossoms—and the lamps were seven. |
We know at least that on the templed rock |
| Of Zion hill, with earth's revolving hours |
| Under the changing centuries of heaven, |
| It stood upon the solemn altar block, |
| By every Gentile who had heard abhorred— |
| The holy light of Israel of the Lord; |
| Until that Titus and the legions came |
| And battered the walls with catapult and fire, |
| And bore the priests and candlestick away, |
| And, as memorial of fulfilled desire, |
| Bade carve upon the arch that bears his name |
| The stone procession ye may see today |
| Beyond the Forum on the Sacred Way, |
| Lifting the golden candlestick of fame. |
The city fell, the temple was a heap; |
| And little children, who had else grown strong |
| And in their manhood venged the Roman wrong, |
| Strewed step and chamber, in eternal sleep. |
| But the great vision of the sevenfold flames |
| Outlasted the cups wherein at first it sprung. |
| The Greeks might teach the arts, the Romans law; |
| The heathen hordes might shout for bread and games; |
| Still Israel, exalted in the realms of awe, |
| Guarded the Light in many an alien air, |
| Along the borders of the midland sea |
| In hostile cities, spending praise and prayer |
| And pondering on the larger things to be— |
| Down through the ages when the Cross uprose |
| Among the northern Gentiles to oppose: |
| Then huddled in the ghettos, barred at night, |
| In lands of unknown trees and fiercer snows, |
| They watched forevermore the Light, the Light. |
The main seas opened to the west. The Nations |
| Covered new continents with generations |
| That had their work to do, their thought to say; |
| And Israel's hosts from bloody towns afar |
| In the dominions of the ermined Czar, |
| Seared with the iron, scarred with many a stroke, |
| Crowded the hollow ships but yesterday |
| And came to us who are tomorrow's folk. |
| And the pure Light, however some might doubt |
| Who mocked their dirt and rags, had not gone out. |
The holy Light of Israel hath unfurled |
| Its tongues of mystic flame around the world. |
| Empires and Kings and Parliaments have passed; |
| Rivers and mountain chains from age to age |
| Become new boundaries for man's politics. |
| The navies run new ensigns up the mast, |
| The temples try new creeds, new equipage; |
| The schools new sciences beyond the six. |
| And through the lands where many a song hath rung |
| The people speak no more their fathers' tongue. |
| Yet in the shifting energies of man |
| The Light of Israel remains her Light. |
| And gathered to a splendid caravan |
| From the four corners of the day and night, |
| The chosen people—so the prophets hold— |
| Shall yet return unto the homes of old |
| Under the hills of Judah. Be it so. |
| Only the stars and moon and sun can show |
| A permanence of light to hers akin. |
What is that Light? Who is there that shall tell |
| The purport of the tribe of Israel?— |
| In the wild welter of races on that earth |
| Which spins in space where thousand other spin— |
| The casual offspring of the Cosmic Mirth |
| Perhaps—what is there any man can win, |
| Or any nation? Ultimates aside, |
| Men have their aims, and Israel her pride. |
| She stands among the rest, austere, aloof, |
| Still the peculiar people, armed in proof |
| Of Selfhood, whilst the others merge or die. |
| She stands among the rest and answers: "I, |
| Above ye all, must ever gauge success |
| By ideal types, and know the more and less |
| Of things as being in the end defined, |
| For this our human life by righteousness. |
| And if I base this in Eternal Mind— |
| Our fathers' God in victory or distress— |
| I cannot argue for my hardihood, |
| Save that the thought is in my flesh and blood, |
| And made me what I was in olden time, |
| And keeps me what I am today in every clime." |
