| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | Rabbi Ben Ezra | | By Robert Browning |
| | | GROW old along with me! | |
| The best is yet to be, | |
| The last of life, for which the first was made: | |
| Our times are in His hand | |
| Who saith: “A whole I planned, | 5 |
| Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!” | |
* * * * * * * * Look not thou down but up! | |
| To uses of a cup, | |
| The festal board, lamp’s flash and trumpet’s peal, | |
| The new wine’s foaming flow, | 10 |
| The Master’s lips aglow! | |
| Thou, heaven’s consummate cup, what needst thou with earth’s wheel? | |
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| But I need, now as then, | |
| Thee, God, who mouldest men; | |
| And since, not even while the whirl was worst, | 15 |
| Did I—to the wheel of life | |
| With shapes and colors rife, | |
| Bound dizzily—mistake my end, to slake Thy thirst. | |
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| So, take and use Thy work: | |
| Amend what flaws may lurk, | 20 |
| What strain o’ the stuff, what warpings past the aim! | |
| My times be in Thy hand! | |
| Perfect the cup as planned! | |
| Let age approve of youth, and death complete the same! | | | | |
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