ΧΙ

Rememb'rest thou the ancient days,
When prophets crowned thy streets,
When Levites with their chants of praise
Recalled thy wond'rous feats?

XII

In foreign lands thy sons abide,
We see thee but in dreams;

We sob, we sigh, our tears are dried
And Hope, it becks and beams.

XIII

"Another year," we softly pray
"O, Lord," Thy children cry;
"O, take us back to Yesterday,
To Israel's cherished destiny."

XIV

Each day we pray, in accents low
Would God I were with thee;

Our Faith is strong, our hopes they grow
Our Fatherland to see.

WALTER VERNON-EPSTEIN.

The Shoshanah

I

A LILY lies broken and bare on a highway—

Broken and bare and maimed;

And people from many a neighboring byway
Carelessly pass her, shamed.

Come carelessly passing her, lying there broken,
Lying mud-spattered and torn;

Of once glorious beauty now scarcely a token,
She seems man and God-forlorn.

In hope, though desponding,
She lies unresponding

To insults, to jibes, and to jeers;
Herself bruised and battered,
Her children wind-scattered-
A mother bemoaning in tears.

II

Lightly the all-crushing Time-wheel rolls o'er her,
Leans lightly, and then rolls on;

Softly the all-burning sunbeams do lower
Their fiercest rays for her, so wan;

Time lends his all-sheltering hand to her-bleeding—
And soon does the sun heal each cut.

But men-Ah! the passing men-push her unheeding, From out of the refuge rut, "What dost thou, poor lily,

On highways so hilly,

So far from the land of thy birth?
Thy hopes lead thee whither?

How camest thou hither

This hard-hearted, rock-bestrewn earth?"

III

"I once was the fairest and happiest flower, Proudest and haughtiest dame;

By the King's own hands tended, in his royal bowerThe Lily of Sharon, my name.

But the weeds they rose up in their envy to choke me,
And brought me very low;

And cast on this highway, the passersby broke me,
And filled my cup with woe.

My house, it is Zion;

My hope, Judah's Lion;

For a while he has left me in pain,

Not for e'er to debase me,

But soon to replace me

In Zion to flourish again."

GEORGE E. CHODOWSKY.

The Return

THE PEOPLE

WIDE open, ye doors, and raise up high, O gate,

We are coming again, who have waited so longWith shouts and rejoicing, with music and song; Then haste ye, companions, nor linger nor wait.

ZION

O not as a beggar that seeketh for alms,

As conquering host ye are coming to me, From valley and mountain, from land and from sea With thunder of trumpets and waving of palms.

THE PEOPLE

Our flag shall be planted on Zion's fair side,

We shall rest in its shade, who have wandered so

long,

Our tears turned to laughter, our sighs into song, Rejoicing as Bridegroom that greeteth his Bride.

On to the Promised Land

I

R. E. I.

A DAWNING sun breaks through the sable cloud!

Oh, see the East ablaze in crimson hue! There peals a mighty blast triumphant, loud, A call to rouse the ever-striving Jew!

CHORUS

Arise my people grand in story,
Thy little ones and patriarchs hoary,
Illumined by thy pristine glory,

And form one mighty band!

And let thy shout ascend to heaven,
For lo! the clouds thy dawn hast riven,
Behold fulfilled the promise given,

On to the promised land!

II

Now beam the rosy rays throughout the lands,
And eyes with sorrow dim light up anew!
In every clime the call is joining bands
Who swing aloft the standard of the Jew!

III

Oh! let the mountain land beloved of God,
Where heroes bled and prophets falsehood slew!
No longer mourning-wrapt, the sacred sod

Blooms forth to greet the home-returning Jew!

IV

The torrent sweeps and melts the crags away,
A nation's cherished dream at last comes true!
For now indeed has come the promised day
Of freedom for the never-conquered Jew!

RUFUS LEARSI.

To Zion

PEOPLE long oppressed and stricken sore,
Condemned as wanderers on the earth to mourn

Across the age-long darkness of thy fate,

There breaks at length the radiance of the dawn. Behold a land, thy birthright and thy home,

On thee by Heaven bestowed, by Heaven withdrawn,

Yet promised to thy seed forevermore;

Yea, He, the Mighty One, Himself hath sworn. Behold its plains unsown, its rock-strewn slopes, Whereon no more the vine and almond grows.

Those barren hills again shall cedars crown,
The land for thee shall blossom as the rose.
Return to thy rest, at last return;

Cry to the South "Give back! Give back O
North!"

Those mountains summon and those valleys cry,
By twos and threes, by tens, in troops go forth
Though yet afar the Peace of Zion waits,

Perchance through flames and blood thy pathway lies,

Fear not-Be strong-Thy heritage regain
O Judah, tarry not! Israel arise.

I

Zionism

M. B. S.

AM come with the dawn on the swift wings of light,
Through the gloom of long ages of strife,

And will bear you away from these regions of night
Far from the dull-plodding toil to new life.
Yet I come not in rage and my nets are not spread
Nor come I to inspire you to wrath.

But I come with the dawn-and by it you'll be led
From the land of the shadow of death.

Lo! I find you in bondage, in hunger, and sorrow,
Bending low 'neath the chains of the slave;
But with life in its wake will I bring you the morrow-
To a life yond the gloom of this grave!

And filled with the spirit of joy I shall lead you

To the land where you'll breathe freedom's breath; From the scorn of your brothers to joy I will speed you From the land of the shadow of death!

SAMUEL ROTH.

Wandering

LITTLE man of sorrows, whither would you wan

der?

Whither from this sunny isle with step so firm and

bold?

"I am going to the City to hear the Word of God, My glory is to tread the soil on which my Fathers

trod;

I am going to the City to hear the Word of God."