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RABBI BEN EZRA

Charles J. Connick Associates, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts

The theme of Robert Browning's "Rabbi Ben Ezra" is symbolized in this double window in three sections-reflecting power, strife and love. The lower medallion is shared by aspiring Youth ("Youth shows but half") and the figure of Age ("Grow old along with me!") who contemplates the Cup of Life. Above these figures, dominating the central medallion, is a knight in armor battling a monster amid storm and strife. This scene brings to mind another line from this powerful poem, "Then, welcome each rebuff . . . ." The upper window symbolizes God as the "Potter" who is holding the Cup ("Perfect the cup as planned!"). At either side are the figures of Age and the Potter's wheel.

Poem of Upper Section

Look not thou down but up!
To uses of a cup,
The festal board, lamp's flash and trumpet's peal,
The new wine's foaming flow,
The Master's lips aglow!
Thou, heaven's consummate cup, what needst thou
with earth's wheel?

Poem of Lower Section

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in his hand
Who saith, "A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"

The Gift of Erin Bain and
John Leddy-Jones