| |
| WHY look ye to the dead? Awake! | |
| O Israel, be strong— | |
| Be strong to make the truth and right | |
| Triumphant over wrong; | |
| Know you, O Israel, that he— | 5 |
| He lives and is anear to you; | |
| And tho’ surges roll, | |
| That the Master Soul | |
| Will guide you safely through. | |
| |
| No need had he for dirges, and | 10 |
| No need for bells to chime; | |
| For heard ye not the night winds play | |
| A funeral march sublime— | |
| A requiem on nature’s harp, | |
| As he on that April day— | 15 |
| From the shadow-land | |
| To the golden strand, | |
| In spirit winged his way. | |
| |
| And when the veil was rent and he | |
| Beheld the Father’s face, | 20 |
| He lived, and in Him found his life, | |
| Saved by His loving grace; | |
| His faith to glorious sight was changed, | |
| As he stood in the presence of Him, | |
| And of those who trod, | 25 |
| As the sons of God, | |
| Thro’ the shadows dark and dim. | |
| |
| And saw ye not the glory light | |
| That stole athwart life’s sea? | |
| It left the impression on him of | 30 |
| An immortality; | |
| For when he shed life’s robe of clay, | |
| He smiled as his spirit fled— | |
| And it lit his face | |
| With a tender grace— | 35 |
| The cold face of the dead. | |
| |
| And nobler far than granite shaft, | |
| Which storms in time will dim, | |
| The Hebrew Union College stands, | |
| A monument to him; | 40 |
| While those who knew him—loved him, say | |
| His breast held a lion’s heart; | |
| For the play of life, | |
| ’Mid its din and strife, | |
| He played the better part. | 45 |
| |
| The victor he, though laurel wreath | |
| Crowned not his aged head; | |
| Still God’s reflected glory lit | |
| His face when he was dead. | |
| And better that than all the crowns, | 50 |
| The world at one’s feet might lay— | |
| As one takes his flight, | |
| ’Mid the shadow-light, | |
| To find eternal day. | |
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