| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | Sonnet | | By George Alexander Kohut |
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THY spirit, Sage, is ever on the wing, | |
| And, soaring midway ’twixt the earth and sky, | |
| Those higher kindred of thy soul draw nigh | |
| To whom thy lofty thoughts, transfigured, cling, | |
| From wrinkled parchment and decaying script, | 5 |
| Thou lurest long-lost Wisdom fragmentwise, | |
| Rejoicing and enlightening the eyes. | |
| There’s none in modern Jewry, thus equipped, | |
| To teach the truth and spread abroad The Law, | |
| And with the peal of prophecy intone | 10 |
| How Beauty shines in Holiness alone, | |
| And that to hold the Spirit well in awe | |
| The letter must be guarded, not forsook, | |
| Ye Race of Priests, Ye People of the Book! | |
| | | Note 1. Suggested by Professor Schechter’s luminous epistle on “Spiritual Religion” in the Jewish Chronicle, November 30, 1899. [back] | | |
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