C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Emma Lazarus (1849–1887)
The Banner of the Jew
W
The glorious Maccabean rage,
The sire heroic, hoary-gray,
His fivefold lion-lineage—
The Wise, the Elect, the Help-of-God,
The Burst-of-Spring, the Avenging Rod.
Jerusalem’s empty streets, her shrine
Laid waste where Greeks profaned the Law
With idol and with pagan sign;
Mourners in tattered black were there,
With ashes sprinkled on their hair.
A blast to ope the graves: down poured
The Maccabean clan, who sang
Their battle-anthem to the Lord.
Five heroes lead, and following, see,
Ten thousand rush to victory!
To blow a blast of shattering power,
To wake the sleepers high and low,
And rouse them to the urgent hour!
No hand for vengeance—but to save,
A million naked swords should wave.
Say not the mystic flame is spent!
With Moses’s law and David’s lyre,
Your ancient strength remains unbent.
Let but an Ezra rise anew,
To lift the Banner of the Jew!
When men have bled and women wept,
To guard its precious folds from wrong,
Even they who shrunk, even they who slept,
Shall leap to bless it, and to save.
Strike! for the brave revere the brave!