| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | Moritz Steinschneider | | By George Alexander Kohut |
| | | IF I had known, dear Master, when of late | |
| I held thy hand within my own to say | |
| The thousand things I’d thought of on the way, | |
| But sheer forgot for very awe to state;— | |
| If I had known the summons was so near | 5 |
| And that thy presence never more would grace | |
| The little room that was the trysting place | |
| Of every scholar, booklover and seer | |
| That came from North, from South, from East, and West | |
| To call himself thy pupil and be blest— | 10 |
| I fain would have besought thee to allow | |
| My unclean lips to kiss the wizard hand | |
| That made of learning such a wonderland, | |
| And lost its matchless cunning only now. | | | | |
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