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| RABBI BEN LEVI, on the Sabbath, read | |
| A volume of the Law, in which it said, | |
| “No man shall look upon my face and live.” | |
| And as he read, he prayed that God would give | |
| His faithful servant grace with mortal eye | 5 |
| To look upon His face and yet not die. | |
| |
| Then fell a sudden shadow on the page, | |
| And, lifting up his eyes, grown dim with age, | |
| He saw the Angel of Death before him stand, | |
| Holding a naked sword in his right hand. | 10 |
| Rabbi Ben Levi was a righteous man, | |
| Yet through his veins a chill of terror ran. | |
| With trembling voice he said, “What wilt thou here?” | |
| The Angel answered, “Lo! the time draws near | |
| When thou must die; yet first, by God’s decree, | 15 |
| Whate’er thou askest shall be granted thee.” | |
| Replied the Rabbi, “Let these living eyes | |
| First look upon my place in Paradise.” | |
| |
| Then said the Angel, “Come with me and look.” | |
| Rabbi Ben Levi closed the sacred book, | 20 |
| And rising, and uplifting his gray head, | |
| “Give me thy sword,” he to the Angel said, | |
| “Lest thou shouldst fall upon me by the way.” | |
| The Angel smiled and hastened to obey, | |
| Then led him forth to the Celestial Town, | 25 |
| And set him on the wall, whence, gazing down, | |
| Rabbi Ben Levi, with his living eyes, | |
| Might look upon his place in Paradise. | |
| |
| Then straight into the city of the Lord | |
| The Rabbi leaped with the Death-Angel’s sword, | 30 |
| And through the streets there swept a sudden breath | |
| Of something there unknown, which men call death. | |
| Meanwhile the Angel stayed without, and cried, | |
| “Come back!” To which the Rabbi’s voice replied, | |
| “No! in the name of God, whom I adore, | 35 |
| I swear that hence I will depart no more!” | |
| |
| Then all the Angels cried, “O Holy One, | |
| See what the son of Levi here hath done! | |
| The kingdom of Heaven he takes by violence, | |
| And in Thy name refuses to go hence!” | 40 |
| The Lord replied, “My Angels, be not wroth; | |
| Did e’er the son of Levi break his oath? | |
| Let him remain; for he with mortal eye | |
| Shall look upon my face and yet not die.” | |
| |
| Beyond the outer wall the Angel of Death | 45 |
| Heard the great voice, and said, with panting breath, | |
| “Give back the sword, and let me go my way.” | |
| Whereat the Rabbi paused, and answered, “Nay! | |
| Anguish enough already hath it caused | |
| Among the sons of men.” And while he paused | 50 |
| He heard the awful mandate of the Lord | |
| Resounding through the air, “Give back the sword!” | |
| |
| The Rabbi bowed his head in silent prayer, | |
| Then said he to the dreadful Angel, “Swear | |
| No human eye shall look on it again; | 55 |
| But when thou takest away the souls of men, | |
| Thyself unseen, and with an unseen sword, | |
| Thou wilt perform the bidding of the Lord.” | |
| The Angel took the sword again, and swore, | |
| And walks on earth unseen forevermore. | 60 |
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