| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | The Universal Mother | | By Sabine Baring-Gould |
| | (Pirke Rabbi Eliezar, ii.)
WHEN by the hand of God man was created, | |
| He took the dust of the earth from every quarter— | |
| From east and west, and from the north and south— | |
| That wheresoever man might wander forth, | |
| He should be still at home; and, when a-dying, | 5 |
| On some far distant western shore, and seeking | |
| A shelter on the bosom of the Mother, | |
| The earth might not refuse to clasp him saying, | |
| “My offspring art thou not, O roving Eastern.” | |
| Wherever now the foot of Man shall bear him, | 10 |
| Wherever by the final call o’ertaken, | |
| He is no stranger reckoned, or an outcast, | |
| But hears exclaim the Universal Mother, | |
| “Come, child of mine, and slumber in my bosom.” | | | | |
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