| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | The Cry of Rachel | | By Lizette Wordsworth Reese |
| | | I STAND in the dark; I beat on the floor, | |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| Through the storm am I come; I find you before: | |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| For him that is sweet, and for him that is small, | 5 |
| I beat on the door, I cry, and I call: | |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| |
| For he was my bow of the almond-tree fair: | |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| You brake it; it whitens no more by the stair: | 10 |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| For he was my lamp in the House of the Lord; | |
| You quenched, and left me this dark and the sword: | |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| |
| I that was rich do ask you for alms: | 15 |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| I that was full, uplift your stripped palms: | |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| Back to me now give the child that I had; | |
| Cast into mine arms my little sweet lad: | 20 |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| |
| Are you grown so deaf that you cannot hear? | |
| Let me in, Death. | |
| Unclose the dim eye, and unstop the ear: | |
| Let me in, Death. | 25 |
| I will call so loud, I will cry so sore, | |
| You must for shame’s sake come open the door: | |
| Let me in, Death. | | | | |
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