| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | “Fire from high, holy heaven down-drawn” | | By James Maurice Thompson |
| | | FIRE from high, holy heaven down-drawn, | |
| By her strong soul and true, | |
| Flashed over Israel, a sudden dawn | |
| With star-song wild and new, | |
| A moment silent in her fair, firm hand | 5 |
| The harp of David lay, | |
| Then gulfs of hopeless, sorrowing years were spanned | |
| When she began to play, | |
| Hers was a woman’s song, whose martial force | |
| All preludes down-hurled— | 10 |
| Razed every wall that barred its noble course | |
| Around the hindering world. | |
| On far blood-hallowed hills the trampled dust | |
| Of patriarch sires did glow, | |
| And matchless swords, long buried in their rust, | 15 |
| Leaped eager for the blow. | |
| In their lone tombs the Hebrew heroes heard, | |
| The prophets felt and knew. | |
| How once again divinest courage stirred | |
| The genius of the Jew. | 20 |
| A Maccabean influence thrilled the sky, | |
| And shone from star and sun, | |
| The banner of old days was passing by | |
| With toph and clarion! | | | | |
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