| |
| I STOOD, to-day, in a temple, | |
| Like one of the olden time; | |
| And I dreamt a dream recalling | |
| The scenes in an Orient clime; | |
| And I felt, though somewhat strangely, | 5 |
| An influence sublime! | |
| |
| And before me hung the tablets | |
| Of the old Mosaic law; | |
| And the white-robed ancient Rabbis, | |
| Again, in that dream I saw; | 10 |
| And the Hebrew psalms are chanted, | |
| Those hymns of praise and awe. | |
| |
| And Israel’s pristine splendor | |
| Arose, as in days of old, | |
| When each prophet after prophet | 15 |
| His tale of promise told; | |
| And the shades of by-gone glories | |
| Before my vision rolled. | |
| |
| ’Tis the New Year of the Hebrew; | |
| That ancient sacred day, | 20 |
| When the memories of the ages, | |
| Awake from time’s decay, | |
| And the hopes of future glories | |
| Are bright as the morning’s ray! | |
| |
| I beheld the chosen children | 25 |
| Of the Great Eternal God, | |
| Still bend in mute submission | |
| To sorrow’s painful rod; | |
| Desirous still to follow | |
| The road by their fathers trod. | 30 |
| |
| And I asked if a faith so lofty | |
| Could be but a passing show? | |
| And the echoes of the by-gone | |
| Replied to my doubtings, “No.” | |
| And I felt in their constant waiting, | 35 |
| Their strength must nobler grow! | |
| |
