But, lo! beside a pillar’s base where scarce the taper’s ray
Could light the gloom that hung around or pierce the shadows gray;
There knelt a son of Israel’s creed, whose dark and swarthy face,
Black raven hair, and liquid eyes bespoke his Jewish race.
What did he there, that Hebrew boy, that scion of the East?
Why knelt he there ’mid Christian souls to keep a Christian feast?
Why were his eyes devoutly fixed upon an image fair?
Why prayed that unbaptizéd child, why sang, why knelt he there?
* * * * *
Of wealthy Jewish parents born, young David oft had heard