| |
| ONCE, through a night of darkness and of shadow, | |
| A brilliant star swept softly into sight; | |
| It scattered out its beams like silv’ry lances, | |
| And, in its pathway, left a streak of light. | |
| But, when the rosy blushes of the morning | 5 |
| Broke over earth, the star had passed away; | |
| And yet its light still travels down to mankind | |
| Through endless dawnings of the golden day. | |
| |
| Once, through an age of mental gloom and shadow, | |
| When ignorance and superstition reigned, | 10 |
| When only those upon the heights of fortune | |
| A glimpse of light—of grace and culture gained, | |
| There dawned for Israel a star of glory | |
| Whose friendly beam through doubt and darkness shone, | |
| And led the gaze of mankind to the hill-tops;— | 15 |
| This star of light was Moses Mendelssohn. | |
| |
| Poor Israel was then despised—rejected! | |
| For prejudice had built a boundless wall | |
| O’er which no tendril of a common feeling | |
| Could twine itself,—no ray of sunlight fall; | 20 |
| Cut from the world,—its gladness and its sorrow— | |
| Poor patient souls, unconscious of their plight, | |
| Submissive with the patience of the sightless, | |
| Whose eyes have ne’er beheld the blessed light. | |
| |
| And then came Mendelssohn; O God, and Father, | 25 |
| We thank thee for this blessing to our race, | |
| We, who to-day, in every art and science | |
| Hold an exalted and an honored place! | |
| For only progress brought to us our freedom, | |
| And only Culture, as she scanned the Jew, | 30 |
| Could see and recognize the kindred spirit | |
| That loves the good, the beautiful, the true. | |
| |
| And Mendelssohn it was who broke the fetters | |
| That tyranny had strengthened year by year; | |
| ’Twas he who smote upon the rock of knowledge | 35 |
| And freed for us its water, sweet and clear; | |
| And lifting up our thoughts to vaster issues, | |
| Our fair ideals to heights before unknown, | |
| Stood by our side, a Jew compelling nations | |
| To honor all the race he called his own. | 40 |
| |
| O, when can Germany e’er cease to cherish | |
| The “Nathan Wise” its Lessing’s graphic pen | |
| Has drawn in glowing and immortal colors, | |
| And held before the wond’ring eyes of men! | |
| The gentle sage, the friend of prince and poet, | 45 |
| Whose every word ennobled and refined, | |
| Who seemed to stand upon some mental summit | |
| And smile upon the factions of mankind. | |
| |
| Unsightly and deformed the suff’ring body, | |
| But, from the thoughtful eyes and noble face | 50 |
| The glory of the soul shone out in splendor,— | |
| A glowing gem in its translucent case! | |
| And all the earth appeared to him in beauty, | |
| For o’er his heart-strings trembled, even then, | |
| The heav’ly melody with which his offspring | 55 |
| Soothed and enslaved the ardent hearts of men. | |
| |
| O, monarch in the realm of thought and reason! | |
| O, high-priest in the temple of the soul! | |
| Thy hymn of progress, tolerance and freedom,— | |
| Through endless ages shall its echoes roll! | 60 |
| Thou couldst not prove to us that mental culture | |
| And Judaism never are at strife, | |
| Nor show us immortality more clearly | |
| Than by the beauty of thy glorious life! | |
| |
| A century has passed on restless pinions | 65 |
| Since death removed thine image from the earth; | |
| An era of enlightenment and progress | |
| Has taught us to appreciate thy worth; | |
| Look down and guide us from thy home in heaven | |
| To nobler deeds than we have ever known; | 70 |
| The purest thought—the broader field of action | |
| Should mark thy people, Moses Mendelssohn! | |
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