On the Loss of a Beloved One, a prayer in the morning by Annie Josephine Levi (1900)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=50336

Date: 2023-04-23

Last Updated: 2025-03-24

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Grief, Jewish Women's Prayers, teḥinot in English, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: "On the loss of a beloved one (in the morning)" was written by Annie Josephine Levi and published in her anthology of teḥinot in English, Meditations of the Heart (1900), pp. 148-149. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	On the loss of a beloved one
	As thrills of long-hushed tone Live in the viol, so our souls grow fine With keen vibrations from the touch divine Of noble natures gone. (James Russell Lowell.[1] From James Russell Lowell’s “Memoriae Positum” (1863), dedicated to Robert Gould Shaw (1837-1863). )
	Another night of sadness hath passed, and new hours of anguish await me. The voice of my dear one is silent— I am comfortless and alone. I ask in my grief why I, too, was not summoned into Thy presence to share with my beloved one the joys of eternal life.
	My soul rebels, I cannot feel resigned. If Thou dost not come to me and hold me by the hand I am lost, forsaken. O look down from Thy heights and let me feel Thine Omnipresence in this, my darkest hour; whisper unto me words of solace that I may not despair.
	O that we might sleep forever, Father, that the memory of our sorrow might vanish, the heart-throbs pulsate but lightly, to pass away into dreams of happiness that is no more! But Thou wilt not have it so; our heart-strings must be tensely drawn that our natures may become refined, exalted, more fitting to appear at Thy foot-stool when our Heavenly call is sounded.
	Therefore, Thy will be done! and let each day teach us this seemingly severe but serviceable lesson.
	Light-and shadow, joy and sorrow, life and death — these are Thy watch-words, and ours be the mission to hearken unto them in a spirit of humility, as we pass along on our way to the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.

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“On the loss of a beloved one (in the morning)” was written by Annie Josephine Levi and published in her anthology of teḥinot in English, Meditations of the Heart (1900), pp. 148-149.

Source(s)

 

Notes

Notes

1	From James Russell Lowell’s “Memoriae Positum” (1863), dedicated to Robert Gould Shaw (1837-1863).

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Annie Josephine Levi
  Bio: Annie Josephine Levi (1868-1911) was an American Jewish writer and poet, the daughter of Joseph C. Levi (a prominent lawyer) and Dinah Julia Levi née Emanuel. Annie Levi arranged a prayerbook, Meditations of the Heart in 1900, containing prayers by her and others and with an introduction by Rabbi Gustav Gottheil. Aside from her contributing short stories, poems, essays and letters to periodicals around the turn of the century, we know very little else about this author. By the mid-1890s she was living with her family in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, and later too, at the time of her death in Manhattan, New York. Her paternal grandparents emigrated from England. If you know more about Annie Josephine Levi, please contact us.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/annie-josephine-levi
• 
  Name: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
  Bio: Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
  Website: https://aharon.varady.net
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady-transcription

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