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Chief Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews
WITH mournful pomp they bore him to the grave | |
| With all the solemn pageantry of woe; | |
| No ancient right or custom would they waive | |
| Which might their grief and awe-struck reverence show; | |
| With honour and with state they laid him low, | 5 |
| And dignities as if a Prince had died; | |
| He was a Prince—none nobler rank could know | |
| Than that he bore with such an honest pride— | |
| God’s priest! A warrior chief fighting on Heaven’s side! | |
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| He came a stranger from his Southern shore, | 10 |
| To colder climes, to natures less intense, | |
| He came—and was a stranger then no more, | |
| For with the music of his eloquence | |
| He won our hearts, and charmed our every sense. | |
| That music’s dead, the earthly bonds are riven, | 15 |
| And he who woke the chords is summoned hence, | |
| “The Gates of Hope” to which his thoughts were given | |
| Have flung their portals wide and shown the path to Heaven! | |
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| Patron of learning! Champion of the poor! | |
| These are the titles that he nobly gained, | 20 |
| These are the honours that will still endure | |
| And teach mere earthly rank to be disdained. | |
| The empire cannot die for him who reigned | |
| By sympathy and knowledge; and the host | |
| That will perpetuate a name unstained, | 25 |
| Poor, seeking wisdom, these shall be our boast, | |
| He loved them—let them comfort her who mourns him most! | |
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