To this the Student straight replied,
“For the white lily, many thanks! 
One should not say, with too much pride,
Fountain, I will not drink of thee! 
Nor were it grateful to forget,
That from these reservoirs and tanks
Even imperial Shakespeare drew
His Moor of Venice, and the Jew,
And Romeo and Juliet,
And many a famous comedy.”

Then a long pause; till some one said,
“An Angel is flying overhead!”
At these words spake the Spanish Jew,
And murmured with an inward breath: 
“God grant, if what you say be true,
It may not be the Angel of Death!”
And then another pause; and then,
Stroking his beard, he said again: 
“This brings back to my memory
A story in the Talmud told,
That book of gems, that book of gold,
Of wonders many and manifold,
A tale that often comes to me,
And fills my heart, and haunts my brain,
And never wearies nor grows old.”

THE SPANISH JEW’S TALE

THE LEGEND OF RABBI BEN LEVI

Rabbi Ben Levi, on the Sabbath, read
A volume of the Law, in which it said,
“No man shall look upon my face and live.” 
And as he read, he prayed that God would give
His faithful servant grace with mortal eye
To look upon His face and yet not die.

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 hath 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.”