The Spanish Jew's Tale - The Legend Of Rabbi Ben Levi - The Wayside Inn - Part First Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDD EEFFGGHIJJKL MMAANNOOKL PPQQRRSS TTUVQQDD QQNNWXPP YYZZPPSS A2 B2B2C2D2E2E2SSF2F2SS FF A2A2G2D2G2D2H2H2I2I2| Rabbi Ben Levi on the Sabbath read | A |
| A volume of the Law in which it said | A |
| No man shall look upon my face and live | B |
| And as he read he prayed that God would give | C |
| His faithful servant grace with mortal eye | D |
| To look upon His face and yet not die | D |
| - | |
| Then fell a sudden shadow on the page | E |
| And lifting up his eyes grown dim with age | E |
| He saw the Angel of Death before him stand | F |
| Holding a naked sword in his right hand | F |
| Rabbi Ben Levi was a righteous man | G |
| Yet through his veins a chill of terror ran | G |
| With trembling voice he said What wilt thou here | H |
| The angel answered Lo the time draws near | I |
| When thou must die yet first by God's decree | J |
| Whate'er thou askest shall be granted thee | J |
| Replied the Rabbi Let these living eyes | K |
| First look upon my place in Paradise | L |
| - | |
| Then said the Angel Come with me and look | M |
| Rabbi Ben Levi closed the sacred book | M |
| And rising and uplifting his gray head | A |
| Give me thy sword he to the Angel said | A |
| Lest thou shouldst fall upon me by the way | N |
| The angel smiled and hastened to obey | N |
| Then led him forth to the Celestial Town | O |
| And set him on the wall whence gazing down | O |
| Rabbi Ben Levi with his living eyes | K |
| Might look upon his place in Paradise | L |
| - | |
| Then straight into the city of the Lord | P |
| The Rabbi leaped with the Death Angel's sword | P |
| And through the streets there swept a sudden breath | Q |
| Of something there unknown which men call death | Q |
| Meanwhile the Angel stayed without and cried | R |
| Come back To which the Rabbi's voice replied | R |
| No in the name of God whom I adore | S |
| I swear that hence I will depart no more | S |
| - | |
| Then all the Angels cried O Holy One | T |
| See what the son of Levi here hath done | T |
| The kingdom of Heaven he takes by violence | U |
| And in Thy name refuses to go hence | V |
| The Lord replied My Angels be not wroth | Q |
| Did e'er the son of Levi break his oath | Q |
| Let him remain for he with mortal eye | D |
| Shall look upon my face and yet not die | D |
| - | |
| Beyond the outer wall the Angel of Death | Q |
| Heard the great voice and said with panting breath | Q |
| Give back the sword and let me go my way | N |
| Whereat the Rabbi paused and answered Nay | N |
| Anguish enough already hath it caused | W |
| Among the sons of men And while he paused | X |
| He heard the awful mandate of the Lord | P |
| Resounding through the air Give back the sword | P |
| - | |
| The Rabbi bowed his head in silent prayer | Y |
| Then said he to the dreadful Angel Swear | Y |
| No human eye shall look on it again | Z |
| But when thou takest away the souls of men | Z |
| Thyself unseen and with an unseen sword | P |
| Thou wilt perform the bidding of the Lord | P |
| The Angel took the sword again and swore | S |
| And walks on earth unseen forevermore | S |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| INTERLUDE | A2 |
| - | |
| He ended and a kind of spell | B2 |
| Upon the silent listeners fell | B2 |
| His solemn manner and his words | C2 |
| Had touched the deep mysterious chords | D2 |
| That vibrate in each human breast | E2 |
| Alike but not alike confessed | E2 |
| The spiritual world seemed near | S |
| And close above them full of fear | S |
| Its awful adumbration passed | F2 |
| A luminous shadow vague and vast | F2 |
| They almost feared to look lest there | S |
| Embodied from the impalpable air | S |
| They might behold the Angel stand | F |
| Holding the sword in his right hand | F |
| - | |
| At last but in a voice subdued | A2 |
| Not to disturb their dreamy mood | A2 |
| Said the Sicilian While you spoke | G2 |
| Telling your legend marvellous | D2 |
| Suddenly in my memory woke | G2 |
| The thought of one now gone from us | D2 |
| An old Abate meek and mild | H2 |
| My friend and teacher when a child | H2 |
| Who sometimes in those days of old | I2 |
| The legend of an Angel told | I2 |
| Which ran as I remember thus ' | - |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1)
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