Then fell a sudden shadow on the page,
  And lifting up his eyes, grown dim with age,
  He saw the Angel of Death before him stand,
  Holding a naked sword in his right hand. 
  Rabbi Ben Levi was a righteous man,
  Yet through his veins a chill of terror ran,
  With trembling voice he said, “What wilt thou here?”
  The Angel answered, “Lo! the time draws near
  When thou must die; yet first, by God’s decree,
  Whate’er thou askest shall be granted thee.” 
  Replied the Rabbi, “Let these living eyes
  First look upon my place in Paradise.”

  Then said the Angel, “Come with me and look.” 
  Rabbi Ben Levi closed the sacred book,
  And rising, and uplifting his gray head,
  “Give me thy sword,” he to the Angel said,
  “Lest thou shouldst fall upon me by the way.” 
  The Angel smiled and hastened to obey,
  Then led him forth to the Celestial Town,
  And set him on the wall, whence gazing down,
  Rabbi Ben Levi, with his living eyes,
  Might look upon his place in Paradise.

  Then straight into the city of the Lord
  The Rabbi leaped with the Death Angel’s sword,
  And through the streets there swept a sudden breath
  Of something there unknown, which men call death. 
  Meanwhile the Angel stayed without, and cried,
  “Come back!” To which the Rabbi’s voice replied,
  “No! in the name of God, whom I adore,
  I swear that hence I will depart no more!”

  Then all the Angels cried, “O Holy One,
  See what the son of Levi here has done! 
  The kingdom of Heaven he takes by violence,
  And in Thy name refuses to go hence!”
  The Lord replied, “My Angels, be not wroth;
  Did e’er the son of Levi break his oath? 
  Let him remain; for he with mortal eye
  Shall look upon my face and yet not die.”

  Beyond the outer wall the Angel of Death
  Heard the great voice, and said, with panting breath,
  “Give back the sword, and let me go my way.” 
  Whereat the Rabbi paused and answered, “Nay! 
  Anguish enough already has it caused
  Among the sons of men!” And while he paused,
  He heard the awful mandate of the Lord
  Resounding through the air, “Give back the sword!”

  The Rabbi bowed his head in silent prayer;
  Then said he to the dreadful Angel, “Swear,
  No human eye shall look on it again;
  But when thou takest away the souls of men,
  Thyself unseen and with an unseen sword
  Thou wilt perform the bidding of the Lord.”

  The Angel took the sword again, and swore,
  And walks on earth unseen forevermore.

* * * * *

MY FRIEND THE WATCH.