Hand within hand, and side by side, Their only punishment, (as wrong, Their only doom was this that, long As the green earth and ocean stand, They both shall wander here the same, Throughout all time, in heart and frame • An allusion to the Sephiroths or Splendors of the Jewish Cabbala, represented as a tree, of which God is the crown or summit. The Sephiroths are the higher orders of emanative being in the strange and incomprehensible system of the Jewish Cabbala. They are called by various names, Pity, Beauty, etc. etc.; and their influences are supposed to act through certain canals, which communicate with each other. †The reader may judge of the rationality of this Jewish system by the following explanation of part of the machinery: "Les canaux qui sortent de la Miséricorde et de la Force, et qui vont aboutir à la Beauté, sont chargés d'un grand nombre d'Anges. Il y en a trente-cinq sur le canal de la Miséricorde, ui recompensent et qui couronnent la vertu des Saints," etc. etc. - For a concise account of the Cabalistic Philosophy, see Enfield's very useful compendium of Brucker. "On les représente quelquefois sous la figure d'un arbre... 'Ensoph qu'on met au-dessus de l'arbre Sephirotique ou des Splendeurs divins, est l'Infini."—L'Histoire des Juifs, liv. ix. 11. Still looking to that goal sublime, Whose light remote, but sure, they see; Through the bleak world, to bend and drink All this they bear, but, not the less, As is that light from chill or stain, The sun into the stars sheds out, To be by them shed back again! That happy minglement of hearts, Where, chang'd as chymic compounds are, Each with its own existence parts, To find a new one, happier far! Such are their joys and, crowning all, That blessed hope of the bright hour, When, happy and no more to fall, Their spirits shall, with freshen'd power, Rise up rewarded for their trust In Him, from whom all goodness springs, And, shaking off earth's soiling dust From their emancipated wings, Wander for ever through those skies Of radiance, where Love never dies! In what lone region of the earth These Pilgrims now may roam or dwell, God and the Angels, who look forth To watch their steps, alone can tell. But should we, in our wanderings, Meet a young pair, whose beauty wants But the adornment of bright wings, To look like heaven's inhabitants Who shine where'er they tread, and yet Are humble in their earthly lot, As is the way-side violet, That shines unseen, and were it not For its sweet breath would be forgot Whose hearts, in every thought, are one, Whose voices utter the same wills Whose piety is love, whose love, Though close as 't were their souls' embrace, Is not of earth, but from above Like two fair mirrors, face to face, Whose light, from one to the' other thrown, 'Tis ZARAPH and his bride we see; And call young lovers round, to view The pilgrim pair, as they pursue Their pathway tow'rds eternity. |