Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917.
By AnonymousThe Sabbath DayKiddush and Habdalah
T
Sacred symbol of faith! Fruitful token of Love!
Thrice welcome to him who hath cast off the coil
Of wearisome, worrying, work-a-day toil;
Then in spirit ecstatic that thrills the heart’s chord
He exclaims: “Enter hither thou blest of the Lord.”
For prepared is my home as a fit dwelling-place
For Heavenly Messengers, Angels of Grace,
Who bear on their wings a new spirit benign
That suffuses man’s soul with afflatus divine;
Thus bestowing upon him, for one day in seven,
While a creature incarnate, a foretaste of Heaven.