,,the ,,poems of ,,emma ,,lazarus ,by ,emma ,lazarus in ,two ,volumes ,,vol4 ,,ii4 ,jewish ,poems3 ,translation ,,transcriber',s ,,note3 ,as a convenience to the reader ,i have included in this volume the biographical sketch of ,emma ,lazarus which originally appeared only in ,vol4 ,i4 of these works4 ,further1 the sketch contains references to passages contained in this volume4--,d4,l4 ,,contents4 ,,biographical ,,sketch ,,of ,,emma ,,lazarus4 ,,the ,,new ,,year4 ,,the ,,crowing ,,of ,,the ,,red ,,cock4 ,,in ,,exile4 ,,in ,,memoriam--,,rev4 ,j4 ,j4 ,,lyons4 ,,the ,,valley ,,of ,,the ,,baca4 ,,the ,,banner ,,of ,,the ,,jew4 ,,the ,,guardian ,,of ,,the ,,red ,,disk4 ,,the ,,new ,,ezekiel4 ,,the ,,choice4 ,,the ,,world',s ,,justice4 ,,the ,,supreme ,,sacrifice4 ,,the ,,feast ,,of ,,light ,,gifts4 ,,bar ,,kochba4 #adib4 ,,the ,,birth ,,of ,,man4 ,,raschi ,,in ,,prague4 ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,raschi4 ,,an ,,epistle4 ,,by ,,the ,,waters ,,of ,,babylon3 ,,little ,,poems ,,in ,,prose4 ,i4 ,the ,exodus4 ,,ii4 ,treasures4 ,,iii4 ,the ,sower4 ,,iv4 ,the ,test4 ,v4 ,currents4 ,,vi4 ,the ,prophet4 ,,vii4 ,chrysalis4 ,,to ,,carmen ,,sylva4 ,,the ,,dance ,,to ,,death4 ,,translations4 ,,from ,,solomon ,,ben ,,judah ,,gabirol4 ,night-,piece4 ,night-,thoughts4 ,meditations4 ,hymn4 ,to a ,detractor4 ,fragment4 ,stanzas4 ,wine and ,grief4 ,defiance4 ,a ,degenerate ,age4 ,,from ,,abul ,,hassan ,,judah ,,ben ,,ha-,,levi4 ,a ,letter to his ,friend ,isaac4 ,admonition4 ,love-,song4 ,separation4 ,longing for ,jerusalem4 ,on the ,voyage to ,jerusalem4 ,to the ,west ,wind4 ,,from ,,moses ,,ben ,,esra4 ,extracts from the ,book of ,tarshish1 or ,necklace of ,pearls4 ,in the ,night4 ,love ,song of ,alcharisi4 ,,nachum4 ,spring ,songs4 ,a ,,translation ,,and ,,two ,,imitations4 ,i4 ,donna ,clara4 ,,ii4 ,don ,pedrillo4 ,,iii4 ,fra ,pedro4 ,,translations ,,from ,,petrarch4 ,in ,vita1 ,,lxvii4 ,in ,vita1 ,,lxxvi4 ,in ,vita1 ,,cv4 ,in ,vita1 ,,cix4 ,in ,morte1 ,,ii4 ,on the ,death of ,cardinal ,colonna and ,laura4 ,in ,morte1 ,,xliii4 ,in ,vita4 ,canzone ,,xi4 ,fragment4 ,canzone ,,xii4 ,fragment4 ,trionfo d',amore4 ,fragment4 ,trionfo della ,morte4 ,,translations ,,from ,,alfred ,,de ,,musset4 ,the ,may ,night4 ,the ,october ,night4 ,,notes ,,to ,,epistle ,,of ,,joshua ,,ibn ,,vives ,,of ,,allorqui4 ,most of the poems in this volume were originally printed in ,the ,american ,hebrew4 ,publisher's note3 ,thanks are due to the ,editors of ,the ,century1 ,lippincott's ,magazine1 and ,the ,critic1 for their courtesy in allowing the poems published by them to be reprinted in these pages4 ,,emma ,,lazarus4 7,written for ,the ,century ,magazine7 ,born ,july #bb1 #ahdi2 ,died ,november #ai1 #ahhg4 ,one hesitates to lift the veil and throw the light upon a life so hidden and a personality so withdrawn as that of ,emma ,lazarus2 but while her memory is fresh1 and the echo of her songs still lingers in these pages1 we feel it a duty to call up her presence once more1 and to note the traits that made it remarkable and worthy to shine out clearly before the world4 ,of dramatic episode or climax in her life there is none2 outwardly all was placid and serene1 like an untroubled stream whose depths alone hold the strong1 quick tide4 ,the story of her life is the story of a mind1 of a spirit1 ever seeking1 ever striving1 and pressing onward and upward to new truth and light4 ,her works are the mirror of this progress4 ,in reviewing them1 the first point that strikes us is the precocity1 or rather the spontaneity1 of her poetic gift4 ,she was a born singer2 poetry was her natural language1 and to write was less effort than to speak1 for she was a shy1 sensitive child1 with strange reserves and reticences1 not easily putting herself en rapport with those around her4 ,books were her world from her earliest years2 in them she literally lost and found herself4 ,she was eleven years old when the ,war of ,succession broke out1 which inspired her first lyric outbursts4 ,her poems and translations written between the ages of fourteen and seventeen were collected1 and constituted her first published volume4 ,crude and immature as these productions naturally were1 and utterly condemned by the writer's later judgment1 they are1 nevertheless1 highly interesting and characteristic1 giving1 as they do1 the keynote of much that afterwards unfolded itself in her life4 ,one cannot fail to be rather painfully impressed by the profound melancholy pervading the book4 ,the opening poem is ,in ,memoriam1--on the death of a school friend and companion2 and the two following poems also have death for theme4 ,on a ,lock of my ,mother's ,hair gives us reflections on growing old4 ,these are the four poems written at the age of fourteen4 ,there is not a wholly glad and joyous strain in the volume1 and we might smile at the recurrence of broken vows1 broken hearts1 and broken lives in the experience of this maiden just entered upon her teens1 were it not that the innocent child herself is in such deadly earnest4 ,the two long narrative poems1 ,bertha and ,elfrida1 are tragic in the extreme4 ,both are dashed off apparently at white heat3 ,elfrida1 over fifteen hundred lines of blank verse1 in two weeks2 ,bertha1 in three and a half4 ,we have said that ,emma ,lazarus was a born singer1 but she did not sing1 like a bird1 for joy of being alive2 and of being young1 alas6 there is no hint in these youthful effusions1 except inasmuch as this unrelieved gloom1 this ignorance of values1 so to speak1 is a sign of youth1 common especially among gifted persons of acute and premature sensibilities1 whose imagination1 not yet focused by reality1 overreached the mark4 ,with ,emma ,lazarus1 however1 this sombre streak has a deeper root2 something of birth and temperament is in it--the stamp and heritage of a race born to suffer4 ,but dominant and fundamental though it was1 ,hebraism was only latent thus far4 ,it was classic and romantic art that first attracted and inspired her4 ,she pictures ,aphrodite the beautiful1 arising from the waves1 and the beautiful ,apollo and his loves1--,daphne1 pursued by the god1 changing into the laurel1 and the enamored ,clytie into the faithful sunflower4 ,beauty1 for its own sake1 supreme and unconditional1 charmed her primarily and to the end4 ,her restless spirit found repose in the pagan idea1--the absolute unity and identity of man with nature1 as symbolized in the ,greek myths1 where every natural force becomes a person1 and where1 in turn1 persons pass with equal readiness and freedom back into nature again4 ,in this connection a name would suggest itself even if it did not appear1--,heine1 the ,greek1 ,heine the ,jew1 ,heine the ,romanticist1 as ,emma ,lazarus herself has styled him2 and already in this early volume of hers we have trace of the kinship and affinity that afterwards so plainly declared itself4 ,foremost among the translations are a number of his songs1 rendered with a finesse and a literalness that are rarely combined4 ,four years later1 at the age of twenty-one1 she published her second volume1 ,admetus and ,other ,poems1 which at once took rank as literature both in ,america and ,england1 and challenged comparison with the work of established writers4 ,of classic themes we have ,admetus and ,orpheus1 and of romantic the legend of ,tannhauser and of the saintly ,lohengrin4 ,all are treated with an artistic finish that shows perfect mastery of her craft1 without detracting from the freshness and flow of her inspiration4 ,while sounding no absolutely new note in the world1 she yet makes us aware of a talent of unusual distinction1 and a highly endowed nature1--a sort of tact of sentiment and expression1 an instinct of the true and beautiful1 and that quick intuition which is like second-sight in its sensitiveness to apprehend and respond to external stimulus4 ,but it is not the purely imaginative poems in this volume that most deeply interest us4 ,we come upon experience of life in these pages2 not in the ordinary sense1 however1 of outward activity and movement1 but in the hidden undercurrent of being4 ,the epochs of our life are not in the visible facts1 but in the silent thoughts by the wayside as we walk4 ,this is the motto1 drawn from ,emerson1 which she chooses for her poem of ,epochs1 which marks a pivotal moment in her life4 ,difficult to analyze1 difficult above all to convey1 if we would not encroach upon the domain of private and personal experience1 is the drift of this poem1 or rather cycle of poems1 that ring throughout with a deeper accent and a more direct appeal than has yet made itself felt4 ,it is the drama of the human soul1--the mystic winged and flickering butterfly1 flitting between earth and sky1 in its passage from birth to death4 ,a golden morning of ,june6 ,sweet empty sky without a stain4 ,sunlight and mist and ripple of rain-fed rills4 ,a murmur and a singing manifold4 ,what simple things be these the soul to raise ,to bounding joy1 and make young pulses beat ,with nameless pleasure1 finding life so sweet6 ,such is youth1 a ,june day1 fair and fresh and tender with dreams and longing and vague desire4 ,the morn lingers and passes1 but the noon has not reached its height before the clouds begin to rise1 the sunshine dies1 the air grows thick and heavy1 the lightnings flash1 the thunder breaks among the hills1 rolls and gathers and grows1 until ,behold1 yon bolt struck home1 ,and over ruined fields the storm hath come4 ,now we have the phases of the soul1--the shock and surprise of grief in the face of the world made desolate4 ,loneliness and despair for a space1 and then1 like stars in the night1 the new births of the spirit1 the wonderful outcoming from sorrow3 the mild light of patience at first2 hope and faith kindled afresh in the very jaws of evil2 the new meaning and worth of life beyond sorrow1 beyond joy2 and finally duty1 the holiest word of all1 that leads at last to victory and peace4 ,the poem rounds and completes itself with the close of the long1 rich day1 and the release of ,the mystic winged and flickering butterfly1 ,a human soul1 that drifts at liberty1 ,ah6 who can tell to what strange paradise1 ,to what undreamed-of fields and lofty skies6 ,we have dwelt at some length upon this poem1 which seems to us1 in a certain sense1 subjective and biographical2 but upon closer analysis there is still another conclusion to arrive at4 ,in ,epochs we have1 doubtless1 the impress of a calamity brought very near to the writer1 and profoundly working upon her sensibilities2 not however by direct1 but reflex action1 as it were1 and through sympathetic emotion--the emotion of the deeply-stirred spectator1 of the artist1 the poet who lives in the lives of others1 and makes their joys and their sorrows his own4 ,before dismissing this volume we may point out another clue as to the shaping of mind and character4 ,the poem of ,admetus is dedicated to my friend ,ralph ,waldo ,emerson4 ,emma ,lazarus was between seventeen and eighteen years of age when the writings of ,emerson fell into her hands1 and it would be difficult to over-estimate the impression produced upon her4 ,as she afterwards wrote3 ,to how many thousand youthful hearts has not his word been the beacon--nay1 more1 the guiding star--that led them safely through periods of mental storm and struggle6 ,of no one is this more true than herself4 ,left1 to a certain extent1 without compass or guide1 without any positive or effective religious training1 this was the first great moral revelation of her life4 ,we can easily realize the chaos and ferment of an over-stimulated brain1 steeped in romantic literature1 and given over to the wayward leadings of the imagination4 ,who can tell what is true1 what is false1 in a world where fantasy is as real as fact8 ,emerson's word fell like truth itself1 a shaft of light shot from the zenith1 a golden rule of thought and action4 ,his books were bread and wine to her1 and she absorbed them into her very being4 ,she felt herself invincibly drawn to the master1 that fount of wisdom and goodness1 and it was her great privilege during these years to be brought into personal relations with him4 ,from the first he showed her a marked interest and sympathy1 which became for her one of the most valued possessions of her life4 ,he criticised her work with the fine appreciation and discrimination that made him quick to discern the quality of her talent as well as of her personality1 and he was no doubt attracted by her almost transparent sincerity and singleness of soul1 as well as by the simplicity and modesty that would have been unusual even in a person not gifted4 ,he constituted himself1 in a way1 her literary mentor1 advised her as to the books she should read and the attitude of mind she should cultivate4 ,for some years he corresponded with her very faithfully2 his letters are full of noble and characteristic utterances1 and give evidence of a warm regard that in itself was a stimulus and a high incentive4 ,but encouragement even from so illustrious a source failed to elate the young poetess1 or even to give her a due sense of the importance and value of her work1 or the dignity of her vocation4 ,we have already alluded to her modesty in her unwillingness to assert herself or claim any prerogative1--something even morbid and exaggerated1 which we know not how to define1 whether as over-sensitiveness or indifference4 ,once finished1 the heat and glow of composition spent1 her writings apparently ceased to interest her4 ,she often resented any allusion to them on the part of intimate friends1 and the public verdict as to their excellence could not reassure or satisfy her4 ,the explanation is not far1 perhaps1 to seek4 ,was it not the ,ewig- ,weibliche that allows no prestige but its own8 ,emma ,lazarus was a true woman1 too distinctly feminine to wish to be exceptional1 or to stand alone and apart1 even by virtue of superiority4 ,a word now as to her life and surroundings4 ,she was one of a family of seven1 and her parents were both living4 ,her winters were passed in ,new ,york1 and her summers by the sea4 ,in both places her life was essentially quiet and retired4 ,the success of her book had been mainly in the world of letters4 ,in no wise tricked out to catch the public eye1 her writings had not yet made her a conspicuous figure1 but were destined slowly to take their proper place and give her the rank that she afterwards held4 ,for some years now almost everything that she wrote was published in ,lippincott's ,magazine1 then edited by ,john ,foster ,kirk1 and we shall still find in her poems the method and movement of her life4 ,nature is still the fount and mirror1 reflecting1 and again reflected1 in the soul4 ,we have picture after picture1 almost to satiety1 until we grow conscious of a lack of substance and body and of vital play to the thought1 as though the brain were spending itself in dreamings and reverie1 the heart feeding upon itself1 and the life choked by its own fullness without due outlet4 ,happily1 however1 the heavy cloud of sadness has lifted1 and we feel the subsidence of waves after a storm4 ,she sings ,matins3-- ,does not the morn break thus1 ,swift1 bright1 victorious1 ,with new skies cleared for us ,over the soul storm-tost8 ,her night was long and deep1 ,strange visions vexed her sleep1 ,strange sorrows bade her weep1 ,her faith in dawn was lost4 ,no halt1 no rest for her1 ,the immortal wanderer ,from sphere to higher sphere ,toward the pure source of day4 ,the new light shames her fears1 ,her faithlessness and tears1 ,as the new sun appears ,to light her god-like way4 ,nature is the perpetual resource and consolation4 ',t is good to be alive6 she says1 and why8 ,simply1 ,to see the light ,that plays upon the grass1 to feel 7and sigh ,with perfect pleasure7 the mild breeze stir ,among the garden roses1 red and white1 ,with whiffs of fragrancy4 ,she gives us the breath of the pines and of the cool1 salt seas1 illimitably sparkling4 ,her ears drink the ripple of the tide1 and she stops ,to gaze as one who is not satisfied ,with gazing at the large1 bright1 breathing sea4 ,phantasies 7after ,robert ,schumann7 is the most complete and perfect poem of this period4 ,like ,epochs1 it is a cycle of poems1 and the verse has caught the very trick of music1--alluring1 baffling1 and evasive4 ,this time we have the landscape of the night1 the glamour of moon and stars1--pictures half real and half unreal1 mystic imaginings1 fancies1 dreams1 and the enchantment of faerie1 and throughout the unanswered cry1 the eternal ,wherefore of destiny4 ,dawn ends the song with a fine clear note1 the return of day1 night's misty phantoms rolled away1 and the world itself1 again green1 sparkling and breathing freshness4 ,in #ahgd she published ,alide1 a romance in prose drawn from ,goethe's autobiography4 ,it may be of interest to quote the letter she received from ,tourgeneff on this occasion3-- ,although1 generally speaking1 ,i do not think it advisable to take celebrated men1 especially poets and artists1 as a subject for a novel1 still ,i am truly glad to say that ,i have read your book with the liveliest interest4 ,it is very sincere and very poetical at the same time2 the life and spirit of ,germany have no secrets for you1 and your characters are drawn with a pencil as delicate as it is strong4 ,i feel very proud of the approbation you give to my works1 and of the influence you kindly attribute to them on your own talent2 an author who write as you do is not a pupil in art any more2 he is not far from being himself a master4 ,charming and graceful words1 of which the young writer was justly proud4 ,about this time occurred the death of her mother1 the first break in the home and family circle4 ,in ,august of #ahgf she made a visit to ,concord1 at the ,emersons'1 memorable enough for her to keep a journal and note down every incident and detail4 ,very touching to read now1 in its almost childlike simplicity1 is this record of persons that pass and shadows that remain4 ,mr4 ,emerson himself meets her at the station1 and drives with her in his little one-horse wagon to his home1 the gray square house1 with dark green blinds1 set amidst noble trees4 ,a glimpse of the family1--the stately1 white-haired ,mrs4 ,emerson1 and the beautiful1 faithful ,ellen1 whose figure seems always to stand by the side of her august father4 ,then the picture of ,concord itself1 lovely and smiling1 with its quiet meadows1 quiet slopes1 and quietest of rivers4 ,she meets the little set of ,concord people3 ,mr4 ,alcott1 for whom she does not share ,mr4 ,emerson's enthusiasm2 and ,william ,ellery ,channing1 whose figure stands out like a gnarled and twisted scrub-oak1--a pathetic1 impossible creature1 whose cranks and oddities were submitted to on account of an innate nobility of character4 ,generally crabbed and reticent with strangers1 he took a liking to me1 says ,emma ,lazarus4 ,the bond of our sympathy was my admiration for ,thoreau1 whose memory he actually worships1 having been his constant companion in his best days1 and his daily attendant in the last years of illness and heroic suffering4 ,i do not know whether ,i was most touched by the thought of the unique1 lofty character that had inspired this depth and fervor of friendship1 or by the pathetic constancy and pure affection of the poor1 desolate old man before me1 who tried to conceal his tenderness and sense of irremediable loss by a show of gruffness and philosophy4 ,he never speaks of ,thoreau's death1 she says1 but always ',thoreau's loss1' or 'when ,i lost ,mr4 ,thoreau1' or 'when ,mr4 ,thoreau went away from ,concord2' nor would he confess that he missed him1 for there was not a day1 an hour1 a moment1 when he did not feel that his friend was still with him and had never left him4 ,and yet a day or two after1 she goes on to say1 when ,i sat with him in the sunlit wood1 looking at the gorgeous blue and silver summer sky1 he turned to me and said3 ',just half of the world died for me when ,i lost ,mr4 ,thoreau4 ,none of it looks the same as when ,i looked at it with him4'444 ,he took me through the woods and pointed out to me every spot visited and described by his friend4 ,where the hut stood is a little pile of stones1 and a sign1 ',site of ,thoreau's ,hut1' and a few steps beyond is the pond with thickly-wooded shore1--everything exquisitely peaceful and beautiful in the afternoon light1 and not a sound to be heard except the crickets or the 'z-ing' of the locusts which ,thoreau has described4 ,farther on he pointed out to me1 in the distant landscape1 a low roof1 the only one visible1 which was the roof of ,thoreau's birthplace4 ,he had been over there many times1 he said1 since he lost ,mr4 ,thoreau1 but had never gone in1--he was afraid it might look lonely6 ,but he had often sat on a rock in front of the house and looked at it4 ,on parting from his young friend1 ,mr4 ,channing gave her a package1 which proved to be a copy of his own book on ,thoreau1 and the pocket compass which ,thoreau carried to the ,maine woods and on all his excursions4 ,before leaving the ,emersons she received the proof-sheets of her drama of ,the ,spagnoletto1 which was being printed for private circulation4 ,she showed them to ,mr4 ,emerson1 who had expressed a wish to see them1 and1 after reading them1 he gave them back to her with the comment that they were good4 ,she playfully asked him if he would not give her a bigger word to take home to the family4 ,he laughed1 and said he did not know of any2 but he went on to tell her that he had taken it up1 not expecting to read it through1 and had not been able to put it down4 ,every word and line told of richness in the poetry1 he said1 and as far as he could judge the play had great dramatic opportunities4 ,early in the autumn ,the ,spagnoletto appeared1--a tragedy in five acts1 the scene laid in ,italy1 #afee4 ,without a doubt1 every one in these days will take up with misgiving1 and like ,mr4 ,emerson not expecting to read it through1 a five-act tragedy of the seventeenth century1 so far removed apparently from the age and present actualities1--so opposed to the ,modernite1 which has come to be the last word of art4 ,moreover1 great names at once appear2 great shades arise to rebuke the presumptuous new-comer in this highest realm of expression4 ,the ,spagnoletto has grave defects that would probably preclude its ever being represented on the stage4 ,the denoument especially is unfortunate1 and sins against our moral and aesthetic instinct4 ,the wretched1 tiger-like father stabs himself in the presence of his crushed and erring daughter1 so that she may forever be haunted by the horror and the retribution of his death4 ,we are left suspended1 as it were1 over an abyss1 our moral judgment thwarted1 our humanity outraged4 ,but ,the ,spagnoletto is1 nevertheless1 a remarkable production1 and pitched in another key from anything the writer has yet given us4 ,heretofore we have only had quiet1 reflective1 passive emotion3 now we have a storm and sweep of passion for which we were quite unprepared4 ,ribera's character is charged like a thunder-cloud with dramatic elements4 ,maria ,rosa is the child of her father1 fired at a flash1 deaf1 dumb1 and blind at the touch of passion4 ,does love steal gently o'er our soul8 she asks2 ,what if he come1 ,a cloud1 a fire1 a whirlwind8 and then the cry3 ,o my ,god6 ,this awful joy in mine own heart is love4 ,again3 ,while you are here the one thing real to me ,in all the universe is love4 ,exquisitely tender and refined are the love scenes--at the ball and in the garden--between the dashing prince-lover in search of his pleasure and the devoted girl with her heart in her eyes1 on her lips1 in her hand4 ,behind them1 always like a tragic fate1 the somber figure of the ,spagnoletto1 and over all the glow and color and soul of ,italy4 ,in #ahha appeared the translation of ,heine's poems and ballads1 which was generally accepted as the best version of that untranslatable poet4 ,very curious is the link between that bitter1 mocking1 cynic spirit and the refined1 gentle spirit of ,emma ,lazarus4 ,charmed by the magic of his verse1 the iridescent play of his fancy1 and the sudden cry of the heart piercing through it all1 she is as yet unaware or only vaguely conscious of the of the real bond between them3 the sympathy in the blood1 the deep1 tragic1 ,judaic passion of eighteen hundred years that was smouldering in her own heart1 soon to break out and change the whole current of thought and feeling4 ,already1 in #ahgi1 the storm was gathering4 ,in a distant province of ,russia at first1 then on the banks of the ,volga1 and finally in ,moscow itself1 the old cry was raised1 the hideous mediaeval charge revived1 and the standard of persecution unfurled against the ,jews4 ,province after province took it up4 ,in ,bulgaria1 ,servia1 and1 above all1 ,roumania1 where1 we were told1 the sword of the ,czar had been drawn to protect the oppressed1 ,christian atrocities took the place of ,moslem atrocities1 and history turned a page backward into the dark annals of violence and crime4 ,and not alone in despotic ,russia1 but in ,germany1 the seat of modern philosophic thought and culture1 the rage of ,anti-,semitism broke out and spread with fatal ease and potency4 ,in ,berlin itself tumults and riots were threatened4 ,we in ,america could scarcely comprehend the situation or credit the reports1 and for a while we shut our eyes and ears to the facts2 but we were soon rudely awakened from our insensibility1 and forced to face the truth4 ,it was in ,england that the voice was first raised in behalf of justice and humanity4 ,in ,january1 #ahha1 there appeared in the ,london ,times a series of articles1 carefully compiled on the testimony of eye-witnesses1 and confirmed by official documents1 records1 etc41 giving an account of events that had been taking place in southern and western ,russia during a period of nine months1 between ,april and ,december of #ahhj4 ,we do not need to recall the sickening details4 ,the headings will suffice3 outrage1 murder1 arson1 and pillage1 and the result1--#ajj1jjj ,jewish families made homeless and destitute1 and nearly #ajj1jjj1jjj worth of property destroyed4 ,nor need we recall the generous outburst of sympathy and indignation from ,america4 ,it is not that it is the oppression of ,jews by ,russia1 said ,mr4 ,evarts in the meeting at ,chickering ,hall ,wednesday evening1 ,february #d2 it is that it is the oppression of men and women1 and we are men and women4 ,so spoke civilized ,christendom1 and for ,judaism1--who can describe that thrill of brotherhood1 quickened anew1 the immortal pledge of the race1 made one again through sorrow8 ,for ,emma ,lazarus it was a trumpet call that awoke slumbering and unguessed echoes4 ,all this time she had been seeking heroic ideals in alien stock1 soulless and far removed2 in pagan mythology and mystic1 mediaeval ,christianity1 ignoring her very birthright1--the majestic vista of the past1 down which1 high above flood and fire1 had been conveyed the precious scroll of the ,moral ,law4 ,hitherto ,judaism had been a dead letter to her4 ,of ,portuguese descent1 her family had always been members of the oldest and most orthodox congregation of ,new ,york1 where strict adherence to custom and ceremonial was the watchword of faith2 but it was only during her childhood and earliest years that she attended the synagogue1 and conformed to the prescribed rites and usages which she had now long since abandoned as obsolete and having no bearing on modern life4 ,nor had she any great enthusiasm for her own people4 ,as late as ,april1 #ahhb1 she published in ,the ,century ,magazine an article written probably some months before1 entitled ,was the ,earl of ,beaconsfield a ,representative ,jew8 in which she is disposed to accept as the type of the modern ,jew the brilliant1 successful1 but not over-scrupulous chevalier d'industrie4 ,in view of subsequent1 or rather contemporaneous events1 the closing paragraph of the article in question is worthy of being cited3-- ,thus far their religion the ,jewish1 whose mere preservation under such adverse conditions seems little short of a miracle1 has been deprived of the natural means of development and progress1 and has remained a stationary force4 ,the next hundred years will1 in our opinion be the test of their vitality as a people2 the phase of toleration upon which they are only now entering will prove whether or not they are capable of growth4 ,by a curious1 almost fateful juxtaposition1 in the same number of the magazine appeared ,madame ,ragozin's defense of ,russian barbarity1 and in the following 7,may7 number ,emma ,lazarus's impassioned appeal and reply1 ,russian ,christianity versus ,modern ,judaism4 ,from this time dated the crusade that she undertook in behalf of her race1 and the consequent expansion of all her faculties1 the growth of spiritual power which always ensues when a great cause is espoused and a strong conviction enters the soul4 ,her verse rang out as it had never rung before1--a clarion note1 calling a people to heroic action and unity1 to the consciousness and fulfillment of a grand destiny4 ,when has ,judaism been so stirred as by ,the ,crowing of the ,red ,cock and ,,the ,,banner ,,of ,,the ,,jew4 ,wake1 ,israel1 wake6 ,recall to-day ,the glorious ,maccabean rage1 ,the sire heroic1 hoary-gray1 ,his five-fold lion-lineage2 ,the ,wise1 the ,elect1 the ,help-of-,god1 ,the ,burst-of-,spring1 the ,avenging ,rod4 ,from ,mizpeh's mountain ridge they saw ,jerusalem's empty streets2 her shrine ,laid waste where ,greeks profaned the ,law ,with idol and with pagan sign4 ,mourners in tattered black were there ,with ashes sprinkled on their hair4 ,then from the stony peak there rang ,a blast to ope the graves2 down poured ,the ,maccabean clan1 who sang ,their battle anthem to the ,lord4 ,five heroes lead1 and following1 see ,ten thousand rush to victory6 ,oh for ,jerusalem's trumpet now1 ,to blow a blast of shattering power1 ,to wake the sleeper high and low1 ,and rouse them to the urgent hour6 ,no hand for vengeance1 but to save1 ,a million naked swords should wave4 ,oh1 deem not dead that martial fire1 ,say not the mystic flame is spent6 ,with ,moses' law and ,david's lyre1 ,your ancient strength remains unbent4 ,let but an ,ezra rise anew1 ,to lift the ,,banner ,,of ,,the ,,jew6 ,a rag1 a mock at first1--erelong ,when men have bled and women wept1 ,to guard its precious folds from wrong1 ,even they who shrunk1 even they who slept1 ,shall leap to bless it and to save4 ,strike6 for the brave revere the brave6 ,the dead forms burst their bonds and lived again4 ,she sings ,rosh ,hashanah 7the ,jewish ,new ,year7 and ,hanuckah 7the ,feast of ,lights73-- ,kindle the taper like the steadfast star ,ablaze on ,evening's forehead o'er the earth1 ,and add each night a lustre till afar ,an eight-fold splendor shine above thy hearth4 ,clash1 ,israel1 the cymbals1 touch the lyre1 ,blow the brass trumpet and the harsh-tongued horn2 ,chant psalms of victory till the heart take fire1 ,the ,maccabean spirit leap new-born4 ,and ,the ,new ,ezekiel3-- ,what6 can these dead bones live1 whose sap is dried ,by twenty scorching centuries of wrong8 ,is this the ,house of ,israel whose pride ,is as a tale that's told1 an ancient song8 ,are these ignoble relics all that live ,of psalmist1 priest1 and prophet8 ,can the breath ,of very heaven bid these bones revive1 ,open the graves1 and clothe the ribs of death8 ,yea1 ,prophesy1 the ,lord hath said again3 ,say to the wind1 come forth and breathe afresh1 ,even that they may live1 upon these slain1 ,and bone to bone shall leap1 and flesh to flesh4 ,the spirit is not dead1 proclaim the word4 ,where lay dead bones a host of armed men stand6 ,i ope your graves1 my people1 saith the ,lord1 ,and ,i shall place you living in your land4 ,her whole being renewed and refreshed itself at its very source4 ,she threw herself into the study of her race1 its language1 literature1 and history4 ,breaking the outward crust1 she pierced to the heart of the faith and the miracle of its survival4 ,what was it other than the ever-present1 ever-vivifying spirit itself1 which cannot die1--the religious and ethical zeal which fires the whole history of the people1 and of which she herself felt the living glow within her own soul8 ,she had come upon the secret and the genius of ,judaism1--that absolute interpenetration and transfusion of spirit with body and substance which1 taken literally1 often reduces itself to a question of food and drink1 a dietary regulation1 and again1 in proper splendor1 incarnates itself and shines out before humanity in the prophets1 teachers1 and saviors of mankind4 ,those were busy1 fruitful years for ,emma ,lazarus1 who worked1 not with the pen alone1 but in the field of practical and beneficent activity4 ,for there was an immense task to accomplish4 ,the tide of immigration had set in1 and ship after ship came laden with hunted human beings flying from their fellow-men1 while all the time1 like a tocsin1 rang the terrible story of cruelty and persecution1--horrors that the pen refuses to dwell upon4 ,by the hundreds and thousands they flocked upon our shores1--helpless1 innocent victims of injustice and oppression1 panic-stricken in the midst of strange and utterly new surroundings4 ,emma ,lazarus came into personal contact with these people1 and visited them in their refuge on ,ward ,island4 ,while under the influence of all the emotions aroused by this great crisis in the history of her race1 she wrote the ,dance of ,death1 a drama of persecution of the twelfth century1 founded upon the authentic records1--unquestionably her finest work in grasp and scope1 and1 above all1 in moral elevation and purport4 ,the scene is laid in ,nordhausen1 a free city in ,thuringia1 where the ,jews1 living1 as the deemed1 in absolute security and peace1 were caught up in the wave of persecution that swept over ,europe at that time4 ,accused of poisoning the wells and causing the pestilence1 or black death1 as it was called1 they were condemned to be burned4 ,we do not here intend to enter upon a critical or literary analysis of the play1 or to point out dramatic merits or defects1 but we should like to make its readers feel with us the holy ardor and impulse of the writer and the spiritual import of the work4 ,the action is without surprise1 the doom fixed from the first2 but so glowing is the canvas with local and historic color1 so vital and intense the movement1 so resistless1 the internal evidence1 if we may call it thus1 penetrating its very substance and form1 that we are swept along as by a wave of human sympathy and grief4 ,in contrast with ,the ,spagnoletto1 how large is the theme and how all-embracing the catastrophe6 ,in place of the personal we have the drama of the universal4 ,love is only a flash now1--a dream caught sight of and at once renounced at a higher claim4 ,have you no smile to welcome love with1 ,liebhaid8 ,why should you tremble8 ,prince1 ,i am afraid6 ,afraid of my own heart1 my unfathomed joy1 ,a blasphemy against my father's grief1 ,my people's agony6 ,what good shall come1 forswearing kith and ,god1 ,to follow the allurements of the heart8 asks the distracted maiden1 torn between her love for he princely wooer and her devotion to the people among whom her lot has been cast4 ,o ,god6 ,how shall ,i pray for strength to love him less ,than mine own soul6 ,no more of that1 ,i am all ,israel's now4 ,till this cloud pass1 ,i have no thought1 no passion1 no desire1 ,save for my people4 ,individuals perish1 but great ideas survive1--fortitude and courage1 and that exalted loyalty and devotion to principle which alone are worth living and dying for4 ,the ,jews pass by in procession--men1 women1 and children--on their way to the flames1 to the sound of music1 and in festal array1 carrying the gold and silver vessels1 the roll of the law1 the perpetual lamp and the seven branched silver candle-stick of the synagogue4 ,the crowd hoot and jeer at them4 ,the misers6 they will take their gems and gold ,down to the grave6 ,let us rejoice sing the ,jewish youths in chorus2 and the maidens3-- ,our feet stand within thy gates1 ,o ,zion6 ,within thy portals1 ,o ,jerusalem6 ,the flames rise and dart among them2 their garments wave1 their jewels flash1 as they dance and sing in the crimson blaze4 ,the music ceases1 a sound of crashing boards is heard and a great cry1--,hallelujah6 ,what a glory and consecration of the martyrdom6 ,where shall we find a more triumphant vindication and supreme victory of spirit over matter8 ,i see1 ,i see1 ,how ,israel's ever-crescent glory makes ,these flames that would eclipse it dark as blots ,of candle-light against the blazing sun4 ,we die a thousand deaths1--drown1 bleed1 and burn4 ,our ashes are dispersed unto the winds4 ,yet the wild winds cherish the sacred seed1 ,the fire refuseth to consume4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,even as we die in honor1 from our death ,shall bloom a myriad heroic lives1 ,brave through our bright example1 virtuous ,lest our great memory fall in disrepute4 ,the ,dance to ,death was published1 along with other poems and translations from the ,hebrew poets of mediaeval ,spain1 in a small column entitled ,songs of a ,semite4 ,the tragedy was dedicated1 ,in profound veneration and respect to the memory of ,george ,eliot1 the illustrious writer who did most among the artists of our day towards elevating and ennobling the spirit of ,jewish nationality4 ,for this was the idea that had caught the imagination of ,emma ,lazarus1 --a restored and independent nationality and repatriation in ,palestine4 ,in her article in ,the ,century of ,february1 #ahhc1 on the ,jewish ,problem1 she says3-- ,i am fully persuaded that all suggested solutions other than this are but temporary palliatives4444 ,the idea formulated by ,george ,eliot has already sunk into the minds of many ,jewish enthusiasts1 and it germinates with miraculous rapidity4 ',the idea that ,i am possessed with1' says ,deronda1 'is that of restoring a political existence to my people2 making them a nation again1 giving them a national centre1 such as the ,english have1 though they1 too1 are scattered over the face of the globe4 ,that task which presents itself to me as a duty4444 ,i am resolved to devote my life to it4 ,,at ,,the ,,least1 ,i ,,may ,,awaken ,a ,,movement ,,in ,,other ,,minds ,,such ,,has ,,been ,,awakened ,,in ,,my ,,own4' ,could the noble prophetess who wrote the above words have lived but till to- day to see the ever-increasing necessity of adopting her inspired counsel1444she would have been herself astonished at the flame enkindled by her seed of fire1 and the practical shape which the movement projected by her poetic vision is beginning to assume4 ,in ,november of #ahhb appeared her first ,epistle to the ,hebrews1--one of a series of articles written for the ,american ,hebrew1 published weekly through several months4 ,addressing herself now to a ,jewish audience1 she sets forth without reserve her views and hopes for ,judaism1 now passionately holding up the mirror for the shortcomings and peculiarities of her race4 ,she says3-- ,every student of the ,hebrew language is aware that we have in the conjugation of our verbs a mode known as the 'intensive voice1' which1 by means of an almost imperceptible modification of vowel-points1 intensifies the meaning of the primitive root4 ,a similar significance seems to attach to the ,jews themselves in connection with the people among whom they dwell4 ,they are the 'intensive form' of any nationality whose language and customs they adopt4444 ,influenced by the same causes1 they represent the same results2 but the deeper lights and shadows of the ,oriental temperament throw their failings1 as well as their virtues1 into more prominent relief4 ,in drawing the epistles to a close1 ,february #bd1 #ahhc1 she thus summarizes the special objects she has had in view3-- ,my chief aim has been to contribute my mite towards arousing that spirit of ,jewish enthusiasm which might manifest itself3 ,first1 in a return to varied pursuits and broad system of physical and intellectual education adopted by our ancestors2 ,second1 in a more fraternal and practical movement towards alleviating the sufferings of oppressed ,jews in countries less favored than our own2 ,third1 in a closer and wider study of ,hebrew literature and history and finally1 in a truer recognition of the large principals of religion1 liberty1 and law upon which ,judaism is founded1 and which should draw into harmonious unity ,jews of every shade of opinion4 ,her interest in ,jewish affairs was at its height when she planned a visit abroad1 which had been a long-cherished dream1 and ,may #ae1 #ahhc1 she sailed for ,england1 accompanied by a younger sister4 ,we have difficulty in recognizing the tragic priestess we have been portraying in the enthusiastic child of travel who seems new-born into a new world4 ,from the very outset she is in a maze of wonder and delight4 ,at sea she writes3-- ,our last day on board ship was a vision of beauty from morning till night1--the sea like a mirror and the sky dazzling with light4 ,in the afternoon we passed a ship in full sail1 near enough to exchange salutes and cheers4 ,after tossing about for six days without seeing a human being1 except those on our vessel1 even this was a sensation4 ,then an hour or two before sunset came the great sensation of--land6 ,at first1 nothing but a shadow on the far horizon1 like the ghost of a ship2 two or three widely scattered rocks which were the promontories of ,ireland1 and sooner than we expected we were steaming along low-lying purple hills4 ,the journey to ,chester gives her the first glimpse of mellow ,england1--a surprise which is yet no surprise1 so well known and familiar does it appear4 ,then ,chester1 with its quaint1 picturesque streets1 like the scene of a ,walter ,scott novel1 the cathedral planted in greenness1 and the clear1 gray river where a boatful of scarlet dragoons goes gliding by4 ,everything is a picture for her special benefit4 ,she drinks in1 at every sense1 the sights1 sounds1 and smells1 and the unimaginable beauty of it all4 ,then the bewilderment of ,london1 and a whirl of people1 sights1 and impressions4 ,she was received with great distinction by the ,jews1 and many of the leading men among them warmly advocated her views4 ,but it was not alone from her own people that she met with exceptional consideration4 ,she had the privilege of seeing many of the most eminent personages of the day1 all of whom honored her with special and personal regard4 ,there was1 no doubt1 something that strongly attracted people to her at this time1--the force of her intellect at once made itself felt1 while at the same time the unaltered simplicity and modesty of her character1 and her readiness and freshness of enthusiasm1 kept her still almost like a child4 ,she makes a flying visit to ,paris1 where she happens to be on the #adth of ,july1 the anniversary of the storming of the ,bastile1 and of the beginning of the republic2 she drives to ,versailles1 that gorgeous shell of royalty1 where the crowd who celebrate the birth of the republic wander freely through the halls and avenues1 and into the most sacred rooms of the king4444 ,there are ruins on every side in ,paris1 she says2 ruins of the ,commune1 or the ,siege1 or the ,revolution2 it is terrible--it seems as if the city were seared with fire and blood4 ,such was ,paris to her then1 and she hastens back to her beloved ,london1 starting from there on the tour through ,england that has been mapped out for her4 ,a ,day in ,surrey with ,william ,morris1 published in ,the ,century ,magazine1 describes her visit to ,merton ,abbey1 the old ,norman monastery1 converted into a model factory by the poet-humanitarian1 who himself received her as his guest1 conducted her all over the picturesque building and garden1 and explained to her his views of art and his aims for the people4 ,she drives through ,kent1 where the fields1 valleys1 and slopes are garlanded with hops and ablaze with scarlet poppies4 ,then ,canterbury1 ,windsor1 and ,oxford1 ,stratford1 ,warwick1 the valley of the ,wye1 ,wells1 ,exeter1 and ,salisbury1--cathedral after cathedral4 ,back to ,london1 and then north through ,york1 ,durham1 and ,edinburgh1 and on the #aeth of ,september she sails for home4 ,we have merely named the names1 for it is impossible to convey an idea of the delight and importance of this trip1 a crescendo of enjoyment1 as she herself calls it4 ,long after1 in strange1 dark hours of suffering1 these pictures of travel arose before her1 vivid and tragic even in their hold and spell upon her4 ,the winter of #ahhc-hd was not especially productive4 ,she wrote a few reminiscences of her journey and occasional poems on the ,jewish themes1 which appeared in the ,american ,hebrew2 but for the most part gave herself up to quiet retrospect and enjoyment with her friends of the life she had had a glimpse of1 and the experience she had stored1--a restful1 happy period4 ,in ,august of the same year she was stricken with a severe and dangerous malady1 from which she slowly recovered1 only to go through a terrible ordeal and affliction4 ,her father's health1 which had long been failing1 now broke down completely1 and the whole winter was one long strain of acute anxiety1 which culminated in his death1 in ,march1 #ahhe4 ,the blow was a crushing one for ,emma4 ,truly1 the silver cord was loosed1 and the golden bowl broken4 ,life lost its meaning and charm4 ,her father's sympathy and pride in her work had been her chief incentive and ambition1 and had spurred her on when her own confidence and spirit failed4 ,never afterwards did she find complete and spontaneous expression4 ,she decided to go abroad as the best means of regaining composure and strength and sailed once more in ,may for ,england1 where she was welcomed now by the friends she had made1 almost as to another home4 ,she spent the summer very quietly at ,richmond1 an ideally beautiful spot in ,yorkshire1 where she soon felt the beneficial influence of her peaceful surroundings4 ,the very air seems to rest one here1 she writes2 and inspired by the romantic loveliness of the place1 she even composed the first few chapters of a novel1 begun with a good deal of dash and vigor1 but soon abandoned1 for she was still struggling with depression and gloom4 ,i have neither ability1 energy1 nor purpose1 she writes4 ,it is impossible to do anything1 so ,i am forced to set it aside for the present2 whether to take it up again or not in the future remains to be seen4 ,in the autumn she goes on the ,continent1 visiting the ,hague1 which completely fascinates her1 and where she feels stronger and more cheerful than she has for many a day4 ,then ,paris1 which this time amazes her with its splendor and magnificence4 ,all the ghosts of the ,revolution are somehow laid1 she writes1 and she spends six weeks here enjoying to the full the gorgeous autumn weather1 the sights1 the picture galleries1 the bookshops1 the whole brilliant panorama of the life2 and early in ,december she starts for ,italy4 ,and now once more we come upon that keen zest of enjoyment1 that pure desire and delight of the eyes1 which are the prerogative of the poet1--,emma ,lazarus was a poet4 ,the beauty of the world1--what a rapture and intoxication it is1 and how it bursts upon her in the very land of beauty1 where ,dante and ,petrarch trod6 ,a magic glow colours it all2 no mere blues and greens anymore1 but a splendor of purple and scarlet and emerald2 each tower1 castle1 and village shining like a jewel2 the olive1 the fig1 and at your feet the roses1 growing in mid-,december4 ,a day in ,pisa seems like a week1 so crowded is it with sensations and unforgettable pictures4 ,then a month in ,florence1 which is still more entrancing with its inexhaustible treasures of beauty and art2 and finally ,rome1 the climax of it all1-- wiping out all other places and impressions1 and opening a whole new world of sensations4 ,i am wild with the excitement of this tremendous place4 ,i have been here a week1 and have seen the ,vatican and the ,capitoline ,museums1 and the ,sistine ,chapel1 and ,st4 ,peter's1 besides the ruins on the streets and on the hills1 and the graves of ,shelley and ,keats4 ,it is all heart-breaking4 ,i don't only mean those beautiful graves1 overgrown with acanthus and violets1 but the mutilated arches and columns and dumb appealing fragments looming up in the glowing sunshine under the ,roman blue sky4 ,true to her old attractions1 it is pagan ,rome that appeals to her most strongly1-- and the far-away past1 that seems so sad and strange and near4 ,i am even out of humor with pictures2 a bit of broken stone or a fragment of a bas-relief1 or a ,corinthian column standing out against this lapis-lazuli sky1 or a tremendous arch1 are the only things ,i can look at for the moment1-- except the ,sistine ,chapel1 which is as gigantic as the rest1 and forces itself upon you with equal might4 ,already1 in ,february1 spring is in the air2 the almond-trees are in bloom1 violets cover the grass1 and oh6 the divine1 the celestial1 the unheard-of beauty of it all6 ,it is almost a pang for her1 with its strange mixture of longing and regret and delight1 and in the midst of it she says1 ,i have to exert all my strength not to lose myself in morbidness and depression4 ,early in ,march she leaves ,rome1 consoled with the thought of returning the following winter4 ,in ,june she was in ,england again1 and spent the summer at ,malvern4 ,disease was no doubt already beginning to prey upon her1 for she was oppressed at times by a languor and heaviness amounting almost to lethargy4 ,when she returned to ,london1 however1 in ,september1 she felt quite well again1 and started for another tour in ,holland1 which she enjoyed as much as before4 ,she then settled in ,paris1 to await the time when she could return to ,italy4 ,but she was attacked at once with grave and alarming symptoms1 that betokened a fatal end to her malady4 ,entirely ignorant1 however1 of the danger that threatened her1 she kept up courage and hope1 made plans for the journey1 and looked forward to setting out at any moment4 ,but the weeks passed and the months also2 slowly and gradually the hope faded4 ,the journey to ,italy must be given up2 she was not in condition to be brought home1 and she reluctantly resigned herself to remain where she was and convalesce1 as she confidently believed1 in the spring4 ,once again came the analogy1 which she herself pointed out now1 to ,heine on his mattress-grave in ,paris4 ,she1 too1 the last time she went out1 dragged herself to the ,louvre1 to the feet of the ,venus1 the goddess without arms1 who could not help4 ,only her indomitable will and intense desire to live seemed to keep her alive4 ,she sunk to a very low ebb1 but1 as she herself expressed it1 she seemed to have always one little window looking out into life1 and in the spring she rallied sufficiently to take a few drives and to sit on the balcony of her apartment4 ,she came back to life with a feverish sort of thirst and avidity4 ,no such cure for pessimism1 she says1 as a severe illness2 the simplest pleasures are enough1--to breathe the air and see the sun4 ,many plans were made for leaving ,paris1 but it was finally decided to risk the ocean voyage and bring her home1 and accordingly she sailed ,july #bcrd1 arriving in ,new ,york on the last day of that month4 ,she did not rally after this2 and now began her long agony1 full of every kind of suffering1 mental and physical4 ,only her intellect seemed kindled anew1 and none but those who saw her during the last supreme ordeal can realize that wonderful flash and fire of the spirit before its extinction4 ,never did she appear so brilliant4 ,wasted to a shadow1 and between acute attacks of pain1 she talked about art1 poetry1 the scenes of travel1 of which her brain was so full1 and the phases of her own condition1 with an eloquence for which even those who knew her best were quite unprepared4 ,every faculty seemed sharpened and every sense quickened as the strong deliveress approached1 and the ardent soul was released from the frame that could no longer contain it4 ,we cannot restrain a feeling of suddenness and incompleteness and a natural pang of wonder and regret for a life so richly and so vitally endowed thus cut off in its prime4 ,but for us it is not fitting to question or repine1 but rather to rejoice in the rare possession that we hold4 ,what is any life1 even the most rounded and complete1 but a fragment and a hint8 ,what ,emma ,lazarus might have accomplished1 had she been spared1 it is idle and even ungrateful to speculate4 ,what she did accomplish has real and peculiar significance4 ,it is the privilege of a favored few that every fact and circumstance of their individuality shall add lustre and value to what they achieve4 ,to be born a ,jewess was a distinction for ,emma ,lazarus1 and she in turn conferred distinction upon her race4 ,to be born a woman also lends a grace and a subtle magnetism to her influence4 ,nowhere is there contradiction or incongruity4 ,her works bear the imprint of her character1 and her character of her works2 the same directness and honesty1 the same limpid purity of tone1 and the same atmosphere of things refined and beautiful4 ,the vulgar1 the false1 and the ignoble1--she scarcely comprehended them1 while on every side she was open and ready to take in and respond to whatever can adorn and enrich life4 ,literature was no mere profession for her1 which shut out other possibilities2 it was only a free1 wide horizon and background for culture4 ,she was passionately devoted to music1 which inspired some of her best poems2 and during the last years of her life1 in hours of intense physical suffering1 she found relief and consolation in listening to the strains of ,bach and ,beethoven4 ,when she went abroad1 painting was revealed to her1 and she threw herself with the same ardor and enthusiasm into the study of the great masters2 her last work 7left unfinished7 was a critical analysis of the genius and personality of ,rembrandt4 ,and now1 at the end1 we ask1 ,has the grave really closed over all these gifts8 ,has that eager1 passionate striving ceased1 and is the rest silence8 ,who knows8 ,but would we break1 if we could1 that repose1 that silence and mystery and peace everlasting8 ,,the ,,new ,,year4 ,,rosh-,,hashanah1 #efdc4 ,not while the snow-shroud round dead earth is rolled1 ,and naked branches point to frozen skies1-- ,when orchards burn their lamps of fiery gold1 ,the grape glows like a jewel1 and the corn ,a sea of beauty and abundance lies1 ,then the new year is born4 ,look where the mother of the months uplifts ,in the green clearness of the unsunned ,west1 ,her ivory horn of plenty1 dropping gifts1 ,cool1 harvest-feeding dews1 fine-winnowed light2 ,tired labor with fruition1 joy and rest ,profusely to requite4 ,blow1 ,israel1 the sacred cornet6 ,call ,back to thy courts whatever faint heart throb ,with thine ancestral blood1 thy need craves all4 ,the red1 dark year is dead1 the year just born ,leads on from anguish wrought by priest and mob1 ,to what undreamed-of morn8 ,for never yet1 since on the holy height1 ,the ,temple's marble walls of white and green ,carved like the sea-waves1 fell1 and the world's light ,went out in darkness1--never was the year ,greater with portent and with promise seen1 ,than this eve now and here4 ,even as the ,prophet promised1 so your tent ,hath been enlarged unto earth's farthest rim4 ,to snow-capped ,sierras from vast steppes ye went1 ,through fire and blood and tempest-tossing wave1 ,for freedom to proclaim and worship ,him1 ,mighty to slay and save4 ,high above flood and fire ye held the scroll1 ,out of the depths ye published still the ,word4 ,no bodily pang had power to swerve your soul3 ,ye1 in a cynic age of crumbling faiths1 ,lived to bear witness to the living ,lord1 ,or died a thousand deaths4 ,in two divided streams the exiles part1 ,one rolling homeward to its ancient source1 ,one rushing sunward with fresh will1 new heart4 ,by each the truth is spread1 the law unfurled1 ,each separate soul contains the nation's force1 ,and both embrace the world4 ,kindle the silver candle's seven rays1 ,offer the first fruits of the clustered bowers1 ,the garnered spoil of bees4 ,with prayer and praise ,rejoice that once more tried1 once more we prove ,how strength of supreme suffering still is ours ,for ,truth and ,law and ,love4 ,,the ,,crowing ,,of ,,the ,,red ,,cock4 ,across the ,eastern sky has glowed ,the flicker of a blood-red dawn1 ,once more the clarion cock has crowed1 ,once more the sword of ,christ is drawn4 ,a million burning rooftrees light ,the world-wide path of ,israel's flight4 ,where is the ,hebrew's fatherland8 ,the folk of ,christ is sore bestead2 ,the ,son of ,man is bruised and banned1 ,nor finds whereon to lay his head4 ,his cup is gall1 his meat is tears1 ,his passion lasts a thousand years4 ,each crime that wakes in man the beast1 ,is visited upon his kind4 ,the lust of mobs1 the greed of priest1 ,the tyranny of kings1 combined ,to root his seed from earth again1 ,his record is one cry of pain4 ,when the long roll of ,christian guilt ,against his sires and kin is known1 ,the flood of tears1 the life-blood spilt ,the agony of ages shown1 ,what oceans can the stain remove1 ,from ,christian law and ,christian love8 ,nay1 close the book2 not now1 not here1 ,the hideous tale of sin narrate1 ,reechoing in the martyr's ear1 ,even he might nurse revengeful hate1 ,even he might turn in wrath sublime1 ,with blood for blood and crime for crime4 ,coward8 ,not he1 who faces death1 ,who singly against worlds has fought1 ,for what8 ,a name he may not breathe1 ,for liberty of prayer and thought4 ,the angry sword he will not whet1 ,his nobler task is--to forget4 ,,in ,,exile4 ,since that day till now our life is one unbroken paradise4 ,we live a true brotherly life4 ,every evening after supper we take a seat under the mighty oak and sing our songs4--,extract from a letter of a ,russian refugee in ,texas4 ,twilight is here1 soft breezes bow the grass1 ,day's sounds of various toil break slowly off1 ,the yoke-freed oxen low1 the patient ass ,dips his dry nostril in the cool1 deep trough4 ,up from the prairie the tanned herdsmen pass ,with frothy pails1 guiding with voices rough ,their udder-lightened kine4 ,fresh smells of earth1 ,the rich1 black furrows of the glebe send forth4 ,after the ,southern day of heavy toil1 ,how good to lie1 with limbs relaxed1 brows bare ,to evening's fan1 and watch the smoke-wreaths coil ,up from one's pipe-stem through the rayless air4 ,so deem these unused tillers of the soil1 ,who stretched beneath the shadowing oak tree1 stare ,peacefully on the star-unfolding skies1 ,and name their life unbroken paradise4 ,the hounded stag that has escaped the pack1 ,and pants at ease within a thick-leaved dell2 ,the unimprisoned bird that finds the track ,through sun-bathed space1 to where his fellows dwell2 ,the martyr1 granted respite from the rack1 ,the death-doomed victim pardoned from his cell1-- ,such only know the joy these exiles gain1-- ,life's sharpest rapture is surcease of pain4 ,strange faces theirs1 wherethrough the ,orient sun ,gleams from the eyes and glows athwart the skin4 ,grave lines of studious thought and purpose run ,from curl-crowned forehead to dark-bearded chin4 ,and over all the seal is stamped thereon ,of anguish branded by a world of sin1 ,in fire and blood through ages on their name1 ,their seal of glory and the ,gentiles' shame4 ,freedom to love the law that ,moses brought1 ,to sing the songs of ,david1 and to think ,the thoughts ,gabirol to ,spinoza taught1 ,freedom to dig the common earth1 to drink ,the universal air--for this they sought ,refuge o'er wave and continent1 to link ,egypt with ,texas in their mystic chain1 ,and truth's perpetual lamp forbid to wane4 ,hark6 through the quiet evening air1 their song ,floats forth with wild sweet rhythm and glad refrain4 ,they sing the conquest of the spirit strong1 ,the soul that wrests the victory from pain2 ,the noble joys of manhood that belong ,to comrades and to brothers4 ,in their strain ,rustle of palms and ,eastern streams one hears1 ,and the broad prairie melts in mist of tears4 ,,in ,,memoriam--,,rev4 ,j4 ,j4 ,,lyons4 ,,rosh-,,hashanah1 #efch4 ,the golden harvest-tide is here1 the corn ,bows its proud tops beneath the reaper's hand4 ,ripe orchards' plenteous yields enrich the land2 ,bring the first fruits and offer them this morn1 ,with the stored sweetness of all summer hours1 ,the amber honey sucked from myriad flowers1 ,and sacrifice your best first fruits to-day1 ,with fainting hearts and hands forespent with toil1 ,offer the mellow harvest's splendid spoil1 ,to ,him who gives and ,him who takes away4 ,bring timbrels1 bring the harp of sweet accord1 ,and in a pleasant psalm your voice attune1 ,and blow the cornet greeting the new moon4 ,sing1 holy1 holy1 holy1 is the ,lord1 ,who killeth and who quickeneth again1 ,who woundeth and who healeth mortal pain1 ,whose hand afflicts us1 and who sends us peace4 ,hail thou slim arc of promise in the ,west1 ,thou pledge of certain plenty1 peace1 and rest4 ,with the spent year1 may the year's sorrows cease4 ,for there is mourning now in ,israel1 ,the crown1 the garland of the branching tree ,is plucked and withered4 ,ripe of years was he4 ,the priest1 the good old man who wrought so well ,upon his chosen globe4 ,for he was one ,who at his seed-plot toiled through rain and sun4 ,morn found him not as one who slumbereth1 ,noon saw him faithful1 and the restful night ,stole o'er him at his labors to requite ,the just man's service with the just man's death4 ,what shall be said when such as he do pass8 ,go to the hill-side1 neath the cypress-trees1 ,fall midst that peopled silence on your knees1 ,and weep that man must wither as the grass4 ,but mourn him not1 whose blameless life complete ,rounded its perfect orb1 whose sleep is sweet1 ,whom we must follow1 but may not recall4 ,salute with solemn trumpets the ,new ,year1 ,and offer honeyed fruits as were he here1 ,though ye be sick with wormwood and with gall4 ,,the ,,valley ,,of ,,baca4 ,,psalm ,,lxxxiv4 ,a brackish lake is there with bitter pools ,anigh its margin1 brushed by heavy trees4 ,a piping wind the narrow valley cools1 ,fretting the willows and the cypresses4 ,gray skies above1 and in the gloomy space ,an awful presence hath its dwelling-place4 ,i saw a youth pass down that vale of tears2 ,his head was circled with a crown of thorn1 ,his form was bowed as by the weight of years1 ,his wayworn feet by stones were cut and torn4 ,his eyes were such as have beheld the sword ,of terror of the angel of the ,lord4 ,he passed1 and clouds and shadows and thick haze ,fell and encompassed him4 ,i might not see ,what hand upheld him in those dismal ways1 ,wherethrough he staggered with his misery4 ,the creeping mists that trooped and spread around1 ,the smitten head and writhing form enwound4 ,then slow and gradual but sure they rose1 ,those clinging vapors blotting out the sky4 ,the youth had fallen not1 his viewless foes ,discomfited1 had left the victory ,unto the heart that fainted not nor failed1 ,but from the hill-tops its salvation hailed4 ,i looked at him in dread lest ,i should see1 ,the anguish of the struggle in his eyes2 ,and lo1 great peace was there6 ,triumphantly ,the sunshine crowned him from the sacred skies4 ,from strength to strength he goes1 he leaves beneath ,the valley of the shadow and of death4 ,thrice blest who passing through that vale of ,tears1 ,makes it a well1--and draws life-nourishment ,from those death-bitter drops4 ,no grief1 no fears ,assail him further1 he may scorn the event4 ,for naught hath power to swerve the steadfast soul ,within that valley broken and made whole4 ,,the ,,banner ,,of ,,the ,,jew4 ,wake1 ,israel1 wake6 ,recall to-day ,the glorious ,maccabean rage1 ,the sire heroic1 hoary-gray1 ,his five-fold lion-lineage3 ,the ,wise1 the ,elect1 the ,help-of-,god1 ,the ,burst-of-,spring1 the ,avenging ,rod499 ,from ,mizpeh's mountain-ridge they saw ,jerusalem's empty streets1 her shrine ,laid waste where ,greeks profaned the ,law1 ,with idol and with pagan sign4 ,mourners in tattered black were there1 ,with ashes sprinkled on their hair4 ,then from the stony peak there rang ,a blast to ope the graves3 down poured ,the ,maccabean clan1 who sang ,their battle-anthem to the ,lord4 ,five heroes lead1 and following1 see1 ,ten thousand rush to victory6 ,oh for ,jerusalem's trumpet now1 ,to blow a blast of shattering power1 ,to wake the sleepers high and low1 ,and rouse them to the urgent hour6 ,no hand for vengeance--but to save1 ,a million naked swords should wave4 ,oh deem not dead that martial fire1 ,say not the mystic flame is spent6 ,with ,moses' law and ,david's lyre1 ,your ancient strength remains unbent4 ,let but an ,ezra rise anew1 ,to lift the ,,banner ,,of ,,the ,,jew6 ,a rag1 a mock at first--erelong1 ,when men have bled and women wept1 ,to guard its precious folds from wrong1 ,even they who shrunk1 even they who slept1 ,shall leap to bless it1 and to save4 ,strike6 for the brave revere the brave6 99,the sons of ,mattathias--,jonanthan1 ,john1 ,eleazer1 ,simon 7also called the ,jewel71 and ,jonas1 the ,prince ,,the ,,guardian ,,of ,,the ,,red ,,disk4 ,spoken by a ,citizen of ,malta--#acjj4 ,a curious title held in high repute1 ,one among many honors1 thickly strewn ,on my lord ,bishop's head1 his grace of ,malta4 ,nobly he bears them all1--with tact1 skill1 zeal1 ,fulfills each special office1 vast or slight1 ,nor slurs the least minutia1--therewithal ,wears such a stately aspect of command1 ,broad-checked1 broad-chested1 reverend1 sanctified1 ,haloed with white about the tonsure's rim1 ,with dropped lids o'er the piercing ,spanish eyes 7,lynx-keen1 ,i warrant1 to spy out heresy72 ,tall1 massive form1 o'ertowering all in presence1 ,or ere they kneel to kiss the large white hand4 ,his looks sustain his deeds1--the perfect prelate1 ,whose void chair shall be taken1 but not filled4 ,you know not1 who are foreign to the isle1 ,haply1 what this ,red ,disk may be1 he guards4 ',t is the bright blotch1 big as the ,royal seal1 ,branded beneath the beard of every ,jew4 ,these vermin so infest the isle1 so slide ,into all byways1 highways that may lead ,direct or roundabout to wealth or power1 ,some plain1 plump mark was needed1 to protect ,from the degrading contact ,christian folk4 ,the evil had grown monstrous3 certain ,jews ,wore such a haughty air1 had so refined1 ,with super-subtile arts1 strict1 monkish lives1 ,and studious habit1 the coarse ,hebrew type1 ,one might have elbowed in the public mart ,iscariot1--nor suspected one's soul-peril4 ,christ's blood6 it sets my flesh a-creep to think6 ,we may breathe freely now1 not fearing taint1 ,praise be our good ,lord ,bishop6 ,he keeps count ,of every ,jew1 and prints on cheek or chin ,the scarlet stamp of separateness1 of shame4 ,no beard1 blue-black1 grizzled or ,judas-colored1 ,may hide that damning little wafer-flame4 ,when one appears therewith1 the urchins know ,good sport's at hand2 they fling their stones and mud1 ,sure of their game4 ,but most the wisdom shows ,upon the unbelievers' selves2 they learn ,their proper rank2 crouch1 cringe1 and hide1--lay by ,their insolence of self-esteem2 no more ,flaunt forth in rich attire1 but in dull weeds1 ,slovenly donned1 would slink past unobserved2 ,bow servile necks and crook obsequious knees1 ,chin sunk in hollow chest1 eyes fixed on earth ,or blinking sidewise1 but to apprehend ,whether or not the hated spot be spied4 ,i warrant my ,lord ,bishop has full hands1 ,guarding the ,red ,disk--lest one rogue escape6 ,,the ,,new ,,ezekiel4 ,what1 can these dead bones live1 whose sap is dried ,by twenty scorching centuries of wrong8 ,is this the ,house of ,israel1 whose pride ,is as a tale that's told1 an ancient song8 ,are these ignoble relics all that live ,of psalmist1 priest1 and prophet8 ,can the breath ,of very heaven bid these ,bones revive1 ,open the graves and clothe the ribs of death8 ,yea1 ,prophesy1 the ,lord hath said4 ,again ,say to the wind1 ,come forth and breathe afresh1 ,even that they may live upon these slain1 ,and bone to bone shall leap1 and flesh to flesh4 ,the ,spirit is not dead1 proclaim the word1 ,where lay dead bones1 a host of armed men stand6 ,i ope your graves1 my people1 saith the ,lord1 ,and ,i shall place you living in your land4 ,,the ,,choice4 ,i saw in dream the spirits unbegot1 ,veiled1 floating phantoms1 lost in twilight space2 ,for one the hour had struck1 he paused2 the place ,rang with an awful ,voice3 ,soul1 choose thy lot6 ,two paths are offered2 that1 in velvet-flower1 ,slopes easily to every earthly prize4 ,follow the multitude and bind thine eyes1 ,thou and thy sons' sons shall have peace with power4 ,this narrow track skirts the abysmal verge1 ,here shalt thou stumble1 totter1 weep and bleed1 ,all men shall hate and hound thee and thy seed1 ,thy portion be the wound1 the stripe1 the scourge4 ,but in thy hand ,i place my lamp for light1 ,thy blood shall be the witness of my ,law1 ,choose now for all the ages6 ,then ,i saw ,the unveiled spirit1 grown divinely bright1 ,choose the grim path4 ,he turned1 ,i knew full well ,the pale1 great martyr-forehead shadowy-curled1 ,the glowing eyes that had renounced the world1 ,disgraced1 despised1 immortal ,israel4 ,,the ,,world',s ,,justice4 ,if the sudden tidings came ,that on some far1 foreign coast1 ,buried ages long from fame1 ,had been found a remnant lost ,of that hoary race who dwelt ,by the golden ,nile divine1 ,spake the ,pharaoh's tongue and knelt ,at the moon-crowned ,isis' shrine-- ,how at reverend ,egypt's feet1 ,pilgrims from all lands would meet6 ,if the sudden news were known1 ,that anigh the desert-place ,where once blossomed ,babylon1 ,scions of a mighty race ,still survived1 of giant build1 ,huntsmen1 warriors1 priest and sage1 ,whose ancestral fame had filled1 ,trumpet-tongued1 the earlier age1 ,how at old ,assyria's feet ,pilgrims from all lands would meet6 ,yet when ,egypt's self was young1 ,and ,assyria's bloom unworn1 ,ere the mythic ,homer sung1 ,ere the gods of ,greece were born1 ,lived the nation of one ,god1 ,priests of freedom1 sons of ,shem1 ,never quelled by yoke or rod1 ,founders of ,jerusalem-- ,is there one abides to-day1 ,seeker of dead cities1 say6 ,answer1 now as then1 ,,they ,,are2 ,scattered broadcast o'er the lands1 ,knit in spirit nigh and far1 ,with indissoluble bands4 ,half the world adores their ,god1 ,they the living law proclaim1 ,and their guerdon is--the rod1 ,stripes and scourgings1 death and shame4 ,still on ,israel's head forlorn1 ,every nation heaps its scorn4 ,,the ,,supreme ,,sacrifice4 ,well-nigh two thousand years hath ,israel ,suffered the scorn of man for love of ,god2 ,endured the outlaw's ban1 the yoke1 the rod1 ,with perfect patience4 ,empires rose and fell1 ,around him ,nebo was adored and ,bel2 ,edom was drunk with victory1 and trod ,on his high places1 while the sacred sod ,was desecrated by the infidel4 ,his faith proved steadfast1 without breach or flaw1 ,but now the last renouncement is required4 ,his truth prevails1 his ,god is ,god1 his ,law ,is found the wisdom most to be desired4 ,not his the glory6 ,he1 maligned1 misknown1 ,bows his meek head1 and says1 ,thy will be done6 ,,the ,,feast ,,of ,,lights4 ,kindle the taper like the steadfast star ,ablaze on evening's forehead o'er the earth1 ,and add each night a lustre till afar ,an eightfold splendor shine above thy hearth4 ,clash1 ,israel1 the cymbals1 touch the lyre1 ,blow the brass trumpet and the harsh-tongued horn2 ,chant psalms of victory till the heart takes fire1 ,the ,maccabean spirit leap new-born4 ,remember how from wintry dawn till night1 ,such songs were sung in ,zion1 when again ,on the high altar flamed the sacred light1 ,and1 purified from every ,syrian stain1 ,the foam-white walls with golden shields were hung1 ,with crowns and silken spoils1 and at the shrine1 ,stood1 midst their conqueror-tribe1 five chieftains sprung ,from one heroic stock1 one seed divine4 ,five branches grown from ,mattathias' stem1 ,the ,blessed ,john1 the ,keen-,eyed ,jonathan1 ,simon the fair1 the ,burst-of ,spring1 the ,gem1 ,eleazar1 ,help of-,god2 o'er all his clan ,judas the ,lion-,prince1 the ,avenging ,rod1 ,towered in warrior-beauty1 uncrowned king1 ,armed with the breastplate and the sword of ,god1 ,whose praise is3 ,he received the perishing4 ,they who had camped within the mountain-pass1 ,couched on the rock1 and tented neath the sky1 ,who saw from ,mizpah's heights the tangled grass ,choke the wide ,temple-courts1 the altar lie ,disfigured and polluted--who had flung ,their faces on the stones1 and mourned aloud ,and rent their garments1 wailing with one tongue1 ,crushed as a wind-swept bed of reeds is bowed1 ,even they by one voice fired1 one heart of flame1 ,though broken reeds1 had risen1 and were men1 ,they rushed upon the spoiler and o'ercame1 ,each arm for freedom had the strength of ten4 ,now is their mourning into dancing turned1 ,their sackcloth doffed for garments of delight1 ,week-long the festive torches shall be burned1 ,music and revelry wed day with night4 ,still ours the dance1 the feast1 the glorious ,psalm1 ,the mystic lights of emblem1 and the ,word4 ,where is our ,judas8 ,where our five-branched palm8 ,where are the lion-warriors of the ,lord8 ,clash1 ,israel1 the cymbals1 touch the lyre1 ,sound the brass trumpet and the harsh-tongued horn1 ,chant hymns of victory till the heart take fire1 ,the ,maccabean spirit leap new-born6 ,,gifts4 ,o ,world-,god1 give me ,wealth6 the ,egyptian cried4 ,his prayer was granted4 ,high as heaven1 behold ,palace and ,pyramid2 the brimming tide ,of lavish ,nile washed all his land with gold4 ,armies of slaves toiled ant-wise at his feet1 ,world-circling traffic roared through mart and street1 ,his priests were gods1 his spice-balmed kings enshrined1 ,set death at naught in rock-ribbed charnels deep4 ,seek ,pharaoh's race to-day and ye shall find ,rust and the moth1 silence and dusty sleep4 ,o ,world-,god1 give me beauty6 cried the ,greek4 ,his prayer was granted4 ,all the earth became ,plastic and vocal to his sense2 each peak1 ,each grove1 each stream1 quick with ,promethean flame1 ,peopled the world with imaged grace and light4 ,the lyre was his1 and his the breathing might ,of the immortal marble1 his the play ,of diamond-pointed thought and golden tongue4 ,go seek the sun-shine race1 ye find to-day ,a broken column and a lute unstrung4 ,o ,world-,god1 give me ,power6 the ,roman cried4 ,his prayer was granted4 ,the vast world was chained ,a captive to the chariot of his pride4 ,the blood of myriad provinces was drained ,to feed that fierce1 insatiable red heart4 ,invulnerably bulwarked every part ,with serried legions and with close-meshed ,code1 ,within1 the burrowing worm had gnawed its home1 ,a roofless ruin stands where once abode ,the imperial race of everlasting ,rome4 ,o ,godhead1 give me ,truth6 the ,hebrew cried4 ,his prayer was granted2 he became the slave ,of the ,idea1 a pilgrim far and wide1 ,cursed1 hated1 spurned1 and scourged with none to save4 ,the ,pharaohs knew him1 and when ,greece beheld1 ,his wisdom wore the hoary crown of ,eld4 ,beauty he hath forsworn1 and wealth and power4 ,seek him to-day1 and find in every land4 ,no fire consumes him1 neither floods devour2 ,immortal through the lamp within his hand4 ,,bar ,,kochba4 ,weep1 ,israel6 your tardy meed outpour ,of grateful homage on his fallen head1 ,that never coronal of triumph wore1 ,untombed1 dishonored1 and unchapleted4 ,if ,victory makes the hero1 raw ,success ,the stamp of virtue1 unremembered ,be then the desperate strife1 the storm and stress ,of the last ,warrior ,jew4 ,but if the man ,who dies for freedom1 loving all things less1 ,against world-legions1 mustering his poor clan2 ,the weak1 the wronged1 the miserable1 to send ,their death-cry's protest through the ages' span-- ,if such an one be worthy1 ye shall lend ,eternal thanks to him1 eternal praise4 ,nobler the conquered than the conqueror's end6 #adib4 ,thou two-faced year1 ,mother of ,change and ,fate1 ,didst weep when ,spain cast forth with flaming sword1 ,the children of the prophets of the ,lord1 ,prince1 priest1 and people1 spurned by zealot hate4 ,hounded from sea to sea1 from state to state1 ,the ,west refused them1 and the ,east abhorred4 ,no anchorage the known world could afford1 ,close-locked was every port1 barred every gate4 ,then smiling1 thou unveil'dst1 ,o two-faced year1 ,a virgin world where doors of sunset part1 ,saying1 ,ho1 all who weary1 enter here6 ,there falls each ancient barrier that the art ,of race or creed or rank devised1 to rear ,grim bulwarked hatred between heart and heart6 #ahhc4 ,,the ,,birth ,,of ,,man4 ,a ,legend of the ,talmud4 ,i4 ,when angels visit earth1 the messengers ,of ,god's decree1 they come as lightning1 wind3 ,before the throne1 they all are living fire4 ,there stand four rows of angels--to the right ,the hosts of ,michael1 ,gabriel's to the left1 ,before1 the troop of ,ariel1 and behind1 ,the ranks of ,raphael2 all1 with one accord1 ,chanting the glory of the ,everlasting4 ,upon the high and holy throne there rests1 ,invisible1 the ,majesty of ,god4 ,about his brows the crown of mystery ,whereon the sacred letters are engraved ,of the unutterable ,name4 ,he grasps ,a sceptre of keen fire2 the universe ,is compassed in ,his glance2 at ,his right hand ,life stands1 and at ,his left hand standeth ,death4 ,,ii4 ,lo1 the divine idea of making man ,had spread abroad among the heavenly hosts2 ,and all at once before the immortal throne ,pressed troops of angels and of seraphim1 ,with minds opposed1 and contradicting cries3 ,fulfill1 great ,father1 thine exalted thought6 ,create and give unto the earth her king6 ,cease1 cease1 ,almighty ,god6 create no more6 ,and suddenly upon the heavenly sphere ,deep silence fell2 before the immortal throne ,the angel ,mercy knelt1 and thus he spoke3 ,fulfill1 great ,father1 thine exalted thought6 ,create the likeness of thyself on earth4 ,in this new creature ,i will breathe the spirit ,of a divine compassion2 he shall be ,thy fairest image in the universe4 ,but to his words the angel ,peace replied1 ,with heavy sobs3 ,my spirit was outspread1 ,oh ,god1 on thy creation1 and all things ,were sweetly bound in gracious harmony4 ,but man1 this strange new being1 everywhere ,shall bring confusion1 trouble1 discord1 war4 ,avenger of injustice and of crime1 ,exclaimed the angel ,justice1 he shall be ,subject to me1 and peace shall bloom again4 ,create1 oh ,lord1 create6 ,father of truth1 ,implored with tears the angel ,truth1 ,thou bring'st ,upon the earth the father of all lies6 ,and over the celestial faces gloomed ,a cloud of grief1 and stillness deep prevailed4 ,then from the midst of that abyss of light ,whence sprang the eternal throne1 these words rang forth3 ,be comforted1 my daughter6 ,thee ,i send ,to be companion unto man on earth4 ,and all the angels cried1 lamenting loud3 ,thou robbest heaven of her fairest gem4 ,truth6 seal of all thy thoughts1 ,almighty ,god1 ,the richest jewel that adorns thy crown4 ,from the abyss of glory rang the voice3 ,from heaven to earth1 from earth once more to heaven1 ,shall ,truth1 with constant interchange1 alight ,and soar again1 an everlasting link ,between the world and sky4 ,and man was born4 ,,raschi ,,in ,,prague4 ,raschi of ,troyes1 the ,moon of ,israel1 ,the authoritative ,talmudist1 returned ,from his wide wanderings under many skies1 ,to all the synagogues of the ,orient1 ,through ,spain and ,italy1 the isles of ,greece1 ,beautiful1 dolorous1 sacred ,palestine1 ,dead1 obelisked ,egypt1 floral1 musk-breathed ,persia1 ,laughing with bloom1 across the ,caucasus1 ,the interminable sameness of bare steppes1 ,through dark luxuriance of ,bohemian woods1 ,and issuing on the broad1 bright ,moldau vale1 ,entered the gates of ,prague4 ,here1 too1 his fame1 ,being winged1 preceded him4 ,his people swarmed ,like bees to gather the rich honey-dew ,of learning from his lips4 ,amazement filled ,all eyes beholding him4 ,no hoary sage1 ,he who had sat in ,egypt at the feet ,of ,moses ben-,maimuni1 called him friend2 ,raschi the scholiast1 poet1 and physician1 ,who bore the ponderous ,bible's storied wisdom1 ,the ,mischna's tangled lore at tip of tongue1 ,light as a garland on a lance1 appeared ,in the just-ripened glory of a man4 ,from his clear eye youth flamed magnificent2 ,force1 masked by grace1 moved in his balanced frame2 ,an intellectual1 virile beauty reigned ,dominant on domed brow1 on fine1 firm lips1 ,an eagle profile cut in gilded bronze1 ,strong1 delicate as a head upon a coin1 ,while1 as an aureole crowns a burning lamp1 ,above all beauty of the body and brain ,shone beauty of a soul benign with love4 ,even as a tawny flock of huddled sheep1 ,grazing each other's heels1 urged by one will1 ,with bleat and baa following the wether's lead1 ,or the wise shepherd1 so o'er the ,moldau bridge ,trotted the throng of yellow-caftaned ,jews1 ,chattering1 hustling1 shuffling4 ,at their head ,marched ,rabbi ,jochanan ben-,eleazar1 ,high priest in ,prague1 oldest and most revered1 ,to greet the star of ,israel4 ,as a father ,yearns toward his son1 so toward the noble ,raschi ,leapt at first sight the patriarch's fresh old heart4 ,my home be thine in ,prague6 ,be thou my son1 ,who have no offspring save one simple girl4 ,see1 glorious youth1 who dost renew the days ,of ,david and of ,samuel1 early graced ,with ,god's anointing oil1 how ,israel ,delights to honor who hath honored him4 ,then ,raschi1 though he felt a ball of fire ,globe itself in his throat1 maintained his calm1 ,his cheek's opaque1 swart pallor while he kissed ,silent the ,rabbi's withered hand1 and bowed ,divinely humble1 his exalted head ,craving the benison4 ,for each who asked ,he had the word of counsel1 comfort1 help2 ,for all1 rich eloquence of thanks4 ,his voice1 ,even and grave1 thrilled secret chords and set ,plain speech to music4 ,certain folk were there ,sick in the body1 dragging painful limbs1 ,to the physician4 ,these he solaced first1 ,with healing touch1 with simples from his pouch1 ,warming and lulling1 best with promises ,of constant service till their ills were cured4 ,and some1 gray-bearded1 bald1 and curved with age1 ,blear-eyed from poring over lines obscure ,and knotty riddles of the ,talmud1 brought ,their problems to this youth1 who cleared and solved1 ,yielding prompt answer to a lifetime's search4 ,then1 followed1 pushed by his obsequious tribe1 ,who fain had pedestaled him on their backs1 ,hemming his steps1 choking the airs of heaven ,with their oppressive honors1 he advanced1 ,midst shouts1 tumultuous welcomes1 kisses showered ,upon his road-stained garments1 through ,prague's streets1 ,gaped at by ,gentiles1 hissed at and reviled1 ,but no whit altering his majestic mien ,for overwhelming plaudits or contempt4 ,glad tidings ,raschi brought from ,west and ,east ,of thriving synagogues1 of famous men1 ,and flourishing academies4 ,in ,rome ,the ,papal treasurer was a pious ,jew1 ,rabbi ,jehiel1 neath whose patronage ,prospered a noble school4 ,two hundred ,jews ,dwelt free and paid no tributary mark4 ,three hundred lived in peace at ,capua1 ,shepherded by the learned ,rabbi ,david1 ,a prince of ,israel4 ,in ,babylon ,the ,jews established their ,academy4 ,another still in ,bagdad1 from whose chair ,preached the great rabbi1 ,samuel ,ha-levi1 ,versed in the written and the oral law1 ,who blindfold could repeat the whole vast text ,of ,mischna and ,gemara4 ,on the banks ,of ,eden-born ,euphrates1 one day's ride ,from ,bagdad1 ,raschi found in the wilderness1 ,which once was ,babylon1 ,ezekiel's tomb4 ,thrice ten perpetual lamps starred the dim shrine1 ,two hundred sentinels held the sleepless vigil1 ,receiving offerings4 ,at the ,feast of ,booths ,here crowded ,jews by thousands1 out of ,persia1 ,from all the neighboring lands1 to celebrate ,the glorious memories of the golden days4 ,ten thousand ,jews with their ,academy ,damascus boasted1 while in ,cairo shone ,the pearl1 the crown of ,israel1 ben-,maimuni1 ,physician at the ,court of ,saladin1 ,the second ,moses1 gathering at his feet ,sages from all the world4 ,as ,raschi spake1 ,forgetting or ignoring the chief shrine1 ,the ,exile's ,home1 whereunto yearned all hearts1 ,all ears were strained for tidings4 ,some one asked3 ,what of ,jerusalem8 ,speak to us of ,zion4 ,the light died from his eyes4 ,from depths profound ,issued his grave1 great voice3 ,alas for ,zion6 ,verily is she fallen6 ,where our race ,dictated to the nations1 not a handful1 ,nay1 not a score1 not ten1 not two abide6 ,one1 only one1 one solitary ,jew1 ,the ,rabbi ,abraham ,haceba1 flits ,ghostlike amid the ruins2 every year ,beggars himself to pay the idolaters ,the costly tax for leave to hold a-gape ,his heart's live wound2 to weep1 a mendicant1 ,amidst the crumbled stones of palaces ,where reigned his ancestors1 upon the graves ,where sleep the priests1 the prophets1 and the kings ,who were his forefathers4 ,ask me no more6 ,now1 when the ,french ,jew's advent was proclaimed1 ,and his tumultuous greeting1 envious growls ,and ominous eyebeams threatened storm in ,prague4 ,who may this miracle of learning be8 ,the ,anti-,christ6 ,the century-long-awaited1 ,the hourly-hoped ,messiah1 come at last6 ,else dared they never wax so arrogant1 ,flaunting their monstrous joy in ,christian eyes1 ,and strutting peacock-like1 with hideous screams1 ,who are wont to crawl1 mute reptiles underfoot4 ,a stone or two flung at some servile form1 ,liveried in the yellow gaberdine 7,with secret happiness but half suppressed ,on features cast for misery71 served at first ,for chance expression of the rabble's hate2 ,but1 swelling like a snow-ball rolled along ,by mischief-plotting boys1 the rage increased1 ,grew to a mighty mass1 until it reached ,the palace of ,duke ,vladislaw4 ,he heard ,with righteous wrath his injured subjects' charge ,against presumptuous aliens3 how these blocked ,his avenues1 his bridges2 bared to the sun ,the canker-taint of ,prague's obscurest coigne2 ,paraded past the churches of the ,lord ,one who denied ,him1 one by them hailed ,christ4 ,enough6 ,this cloud1 no bigger than one's hand1 ,gains overweening bulk4 ,prague harbored1 first1 ,out of contemptuous ruth1 a wretched band ,of outcast paupers1 gave them leave to ply ,their money-lending trade1 and leased them land ,on all too facile terms4 ,behold6 to-day1 ,like leeches bloated with the people's blood1 ,they batten on ,bohemia's poverty2 ,they breed and grow2 like adders1 spit back hate ,and venomed perfidy for ,christian love4 ,thereat the ,duke1 urged by wise counsellors-- ,narzerad the statesman 7half whose wealth was pledged ,to the usurers71 abetted by the priest1 ,bishop of ,olmutz1 who had visited ,the ,holy ,sepulchre1 whose long1 full life ,was one clean record of pure piety-- ,the ,duke1 ,i say1 by these persuasive tongues1 ,coaxed to his darling aim1 forbade his guards ,to hinder the just anger of his town1 ,and ordered to be led in chains to him ,the pilgrim and his host4 ,at noontide meal ,raschi sat1 full of peace1 with ,jochanan1 ,and the sole daughter of the house1 ,rebekah1 ,young1 beautiful as her namesake when she brought ,her firm1 frail pitcher balanced on her neck ,unto the well1 and gave the stranger drink1 ,and gave his camels drink4 ,the servant set ,the sparkling jar's refreshment from his lips1 ,and saw the virgin's face1 bright as the moon1 ,beam from the curled luxuriance of black locks1 ,and cast-back linen veil's soft-folded cloud1 ,then put the golden ear-ring by her cheek1 ,the bracelets on her hands1 his master's pledge1 ,isaac's betrothal gift1 whom she should wed1 ,and be the mother of millions--one whose seed ,dwells in the gates of those which hate them4 ,so ,yearned ,raschi to adorn the radiant girl ,who sat at board before him1 nor dared lift ,shy1 heavy lids from pupils black as grapes ,that dart the imprisoned sunshine from their core4 ,but in her ears keen sense was born to catch1 ,and in her heart strange power to hold1 each tone ,o' the low-keyed1 vibrant voice1 each syllable ,o' the eloquent discourse1 enriched with tales ,of venturous travel1 brilliant with fine points ,of delicate humor1 or illustrated ,with living portraits of world-famoused men1 ,jews1 ,saracens1 ,crusaders1 ,islamites1 ,whose hand he had grasped--the iron warrior1 ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 the wise infidel ,who in all strength1 wit1 courtesy excelled ,the kings his foes--imperial ,saladin4 ,but even as ,raschi spake an abrupt noise ,of angry shouts1 of battering staves that shook ,the oaken portal1 stopped the enchanted voice1 ,the uplifted wine spilled from the nerveless hand ,of ,rabbi ,jochanan4 ,god pity us6 ,our enemies are upon us once again4 ,hie thee1 ,rebekah1 to the inmost chamber1 ,far from their wanton eyes' polluting gaze1 ,their desecrating touch6 ,kiss me6 ,begone6 ,raschi1 my guest1 my son--,but no word more ,uttered the reverend man4 ,with one huge crash ,the strong doors split asunder1 pouring in ,a stream of soldiers1 ruffians1 armed with pikes1 ,lances1 and clubs--the unchained beast1 the mob4 ,behold the town's new guest6 jeered one who tossed ,the half-filled golden wine-cup's contents straight ,in the noble pure young face4 ,what1 master ,jew6 ,must your good friends of ,prague break bolts and bars ,to gain a peep at this prodigious pearl ,you bury in your shell8 ,forth to the day6 ,our ,duke himself claims share of your new wealth2 ,summons to court the ,jew philosopher6 ,then1 while some stuffed their pokes with baubles snatched ,from board and shelf1 or with malignant sword ,slashed the rich ,orient rugs1 the pictured woof ,that clothed the wall2 others had seized and bound1 ,and gagged from speech1 the helpless1 aged man2 ,still others outraged1 with coarse1 violent hands1 ,the marble-pale1 rigid as stone1 strange youth1 ,whose eye like struck flint flashed1 whose nether lip ,was threaded with a scarlet line of blood1 ,where the compressed teeth fixed it to forced calm4 ,he struggled not while his free limbs were tied1 ,his beard plucked1 torn and spat upon his robe-- ,seemed scarce to know these insults were for him2 ,but never swerved his gaze from ,jochanan4 ,then1 in ,god's language1 sealed from these dumb brutes1 ,swiftly and low he spake3 ,be of good cheer1 ,reverend old man4 ,i deign not treat with these4 ,if one dare offer bodily hurt to thee1 ,by the ineffable ,name6 ,i snap my chains ,like gossamer1 and in his blood1 to the hilt1 ,bathe the prompt knife hid in my girdle's folds4 ,the ,duke shall hear me4 ,patience4 ,trust in me4 ,somewhat the authoritative voice abashed1 ,even hoarse and changed1 the miscreants1 who feared ,some strong curse lurked in this mysterious tongue1 ,armed with this evil eye4 ,but brief the spell4 ,with gibe and scoff they dragged their victims forth1 ,the abused old man1 the proud1 insulted youth1 ,o'er the late path of his triumphal march1 ,befouled with mud1 with raiment torn1 wild hair ,and ragged beard1 to ,vladislaw4 ,he sat ,expectant in his cabinet4 ,on one side ,his secular adviser1 ,narzerad1 ,quick-eyed1 sharp-nosed1 red-whiskered as a fox2 ,on the other hand his spiritual guide1 ,bishop of ,olmutz1 unctuous1 large1 and bland4 ,so these twain are chief culprits6 sneered the ,duke1 ,measuring with the noble's ignorant scorn ,his masters of a lesser caste4 ,stand forth6 ,rash1 stubborn1 vain old man1 whose impudence ,hath choked the public highways with thy brood ,of nasty vermin1 by our sufferance hid ,in lanes obscure1 who hailed this charlatan ,with sky-flung caps1 bent knees1 and echoing shouts1 ,due to ourselves alone in ,prague2 yea1 worse1 ,who offered worship even ourselves disclaim1 ,our ,lord ,christ's meed1 to this blaspheming ,jew-- ,thy crimes have murdered patience4 ,thou hast wrecked ,thy people's fortune with thy own4 ,but first 7,for even in anger we are just7 recount ,with how great compensation from thy store ,of hoarded gold and jewels thou wilt buy ,remission of the penalty4 ,be wise4 ,hark how my subjects1 storming through the streets1 ,vent on thy tribe accursed their well-based wrath4 ,and1 truly1 through closed casements roared the noise ,of mighty surging crowds1 derisive cries1 ,and victims' screams of anguish and affright4 ,then ,raschi1 royal in his rags1 began3 ,hear me1 my liege6 ,at that commanding voice1 ,the ,bishop1 who with dazed eyes had perused ,the grieved1 wise1 beautiful1 pale face1 sprang up1 ,quick recognition in his glance1 warm joy ,aflame on his broad cheeks4 ,no more6 ,no more6 ,thou art the man6 ,give me the hand to kiss ,that raised me from the shadow of the grave ,in ,jaffa's lazar-house6 ,listen1 my liege6 ,during my pilgrimage to ,palestine ,i1 sickened with the plague and nigh to death1 ,languished 'midst strangers1 all my crumbling flesh ,one rotten mass of sores1 a thing for dogs ,to shy from1 shunned by ,christian as by ,turk1 ,when lo6 this clean-breathed1 pure-souled1 blessed youth1 ,whom ,i1 not knowing for an infidel1 ,seeing featured like the ,christ1 believed a saint1 ,sat by my pillow1 charmed the sting from pain1 ,quenched the fierce fever's heat1 defeated ,death2 ,and when ,i was made whole1 had disappeared1 ,no man knew whither1 leaving no more trace ,than a re-risen angel4 ,this is he6 ,then ,raschi1 who had stood erect1 nor quailed ,from glances of hot hate or crazy wrath1 ,now sank his eagle gaze1 stooped his high head1 ,veiling his glowing brow1 returned the kiss ,of brother-love upon the ,christian's hand1 ,and dropping on his knees implored the three1 ,grace for my tribe6 ,they are what ye have made4 ,if any be among them fawning1 false1 ,insatiable1 revengeful1 ignorant1 mean-- ,and there are many such--ask your own hearts ,what virtues ye would yield for planted hate1 ,ribald contempt1 forced1 menial servitude1 ,slow centuries of vengeance for a crime ,ye never did commit8 ,mercy for these6 ,who bear on back and breast the scathing brand ,of scarlet degradation1 who are clothed ,in ignominious livery1 whose bowed necks ,are broken with the yoke4 ,change these to men6 ,that were a noble witchcraft simply wrought1 ,god's alchemy transforming clods to gold4 ,if there be one among them strong and wise1 ,whose lips anoint breathe poetry and love1 ,whose brain and heart served ever ,christian need-- ,and there are many such--for his dear sake1 ,lest ye chance murder one of ,god's high priests1 ,spare his thrice-wretched tribe6 ,believe me1 sirs1 ,who have seen various lands1 searched various hearts1 ,i have yet to touch that undiscovered shore1 ,have yet to fathom that impossible soul1 ,where a true benefit's forgot2 where one ,slight deed of common kindness sown yields not ,as now1 as here1 abundant crop of love4 ,every good act of man1 our ,talmud says1 ,creates an angel1 hovering by his side4 ,oh6 what a shining host1 great ,duke1 shall guard ,thy consecrated throne1 for all the lives ,thy mercy spares1 for all the tears thy ruth ,stops at the source4 ,behold this poor old man1 ,last of a line of princes1 stricken in years1 ,as thy dead father would have been to-day4 ,was that white beard a rag for obscene hands ,to tear8 a weed for lumpish clowns to pluck8 ,was that benignant1 venerable face ,fit target for their foul throats' voided rheum8 ,that wrinkled flesh made to be pulled and pricked1 ,wounded by flinty pebbles and keen steel8 ,behold the prostrate1 patriarchal form1 ,bruised1 silent1 chained4 ,duke1 such is ,israel6 ,unbind these men6 commanded ,vladislaw4 ,go forth and still the tumult of my town4 ,let no ,jew suffer violence4 ,raschi1 rise6 ,thou who hast served the ,christ--with this priest's life1 ,who is my spirit's counselor--,christ serves thee4 ,return among thy people with my seal1 ,the talisman of safety4 ,let them know ,the ,duke's their friend4 ,go1 publish the glad news6 ,raschi the ,saviour1 ,raschi the ,messiah1 ,back to the ,jewry carried peace and love4 ,but ,narzerad fed his venomed heart with gall1 ,vowing to give his fatal hatred vent1 ,despite a world of weak fantastic ,dukes ,and heretic bishops4 ,he fulfilled his vow4 ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,raschi4 ,aaron ,ben ,mier loquitur4 ,if ,i remember ,raschi8 ,an ,i live1 ,grandson1 to bless thy grandchild1 ,i'll forget ,never that youth and what he did for ,prague4 ,aye1 aye1 ,i know6 he slurred a certain verse ,in such and such a prayer2 omitted quite ,to stand erect there where the ritual ,commands us rise and bow towards the ,east2 ,therefore1 the ingrates brand him heterodox1 ,neglect his memory whose virtue saved ,each knave of us alive4 ,not ,i forget1 ,no more does ,god1 who wrought a miracle ,for his dear sake4 ,the ,passover was here4 ,raschi1 just wedded with the fair ,rebekah1 ,bode but the lapsing of the holy week ,for homeward journey with his bride to ,france4 ,the sacred meal was spread4 ,all sat at board ,within the house of ,rabbi ,jochanan3 ,the kind old priest2 his noble1 new-found son1 ,whose name was wrung in every key of praise1 ,by every voice in ,prague1 from ,duke to serf 7,save the vindictive bigot1 ,narzerad72 ,the beautiful young wife1 whose cup of joy ,sparkled at brim2 next her the vacant chair ,awaited the ,messiah1 who1 unannounced1 ,in ,god's good time shall take his place with us4 ,now when the ,rabbi reached the verse where one ,shall rise from table1 flinging wide the door1 ,to give the ,prophet entrance1 if so be ,the glorious hour have sounded1 ,raschi rose1 ,pale1 grave1 yet glad with great expectancy1 ,crossed the hushed room1 and1 with a joyous smile ,to greet the ,saviour1 opened the door4 ,a curse6 ,a cry1 ,revenged6 a thrust1 a stifled moan1 ,the sheathing of a poniard--that was all6 ,in the dark vestibule a fleeing form1 ,masked1 gowned in black2 and in the room of prayer1 ,raschi1 face downward on the stone-cold floor1 ,bleeding his life out4 ,oh6 what a cry was that 7,folk shuddered1 hearing1 roods off in the street7 ,wherewith ,rebekah rushed to raise her lord1 ,kneeling beside him1 striving in vain to quench ,with turban1 veil1 torn shreds of gown1 stained hands1 ,the black blood's sickening gush4 ,he never spoke1 ,never rewarded with one glance of life ,the passion in her eyes4 ,he met his end ,even as beneath the sickle the full ear ,bows to its death--so beautiful1 silent1 ripe4 ,well1 we poor ,jews must gulp our injuries1 ,howe'er they choke us4 ,what redress in ,prague ,for the inhuman murder8 ,a strange ,jew ,the victim2 the suspected criminal ,the ducal counselor6 ,such odds forbade ,revenge or justice4 ,we forbore to seek4 ,the priest1 discrowned o' the glory of his age1 ,the widow-bride1 mourned as though smitten of ,god1 ,gave forth they would with solemn obsequies ,bury their dead1 and crave no help from man4 ,now of what chanced betwixt the night of murder ,and the appointed burial ,i can give ,only the sum of gossip--servants' tales1 ,neighbors' reports1 close confidences leaked ,from friends and kindred4 ,night and day1 folk said1 ,rebekah wept1 prayed1 fasted by the corpse1 ,three mortal days4 ,upon the third1 her eyes1 ,sunk in their pits1 glimmered with wild1 strange fire4 ,she started from her place beside the dead1 ,kissed clay-cold brow1 cheeks1 lids1 and lips once more1 ,and with a maniac's wan1 heart-breaking smile1 ,veiled1 hooded1 glided through the twilight streets1 ,a sable shadow4 ,from the willow-grove1 ,close by the ,moldau's brink1 beyond the bridge1 ,her trace was lost4 ',t was evening and mild ,may1 ,air full of spring1 skies perfect as a pearl2 ,yet one who saw her pass amidst the shades ,o' the blue-gray branches swears a sudden flame1 ,as of miraculous lightning1 thrilled through heaven4 ,one hour thereafter she reentered ,prague1 ,slid swiftly through the streets1 as though borne on ,by ankle-wings or floating on soft cloud1 ,smiling no more1 but with illumined eyes1 ,transfigured brow1 grave lips1 and faltering limbs1 ,so came into the room where ,raschi lay ,stretched 'twixt tall tapers lit at head and foot4 ,she held in both hands leafy1 flowerless plants1 ,some she had fastened in her twisted hair1 ,stuck others in her girdle1 and from all ,issued a racy odor1 pungent-sweet1 ,the living soul of ,spring4 ,death's chamber seemed ,as though clear sunshine and a singing bird ,therein had entered4 ,from the precious herb ,she poured into a golden bowl the sap1 ,sparkling like wine2 then with a soundless prayer1 ,white as the dead herself1 she held the cup ,to ,raschi's mouth4 ,a quick1 small flame sprang up ,from the enchanted balsam1 died away1 ,and lo6 the color dawned in cheek and lips1 ,the life returned1 the sealed1 blind lids were raised1 ,and in the glorious eyes love reawoke1 ,and1 looking up1 met love4 ,so runs the tale1 ,mocked by the worldly-wise2 but ,i believe1 ,knowing the miracles the ,lord hath wrought ,in every age for ,jacob's seed4 ,moreover1 ,i1 with the highest and meanest ,jew in ,prague1 ,was at the burial4 ,no man saw the dead4 ,sealed was the coffin ere the rites began1 ,and none could swear it went not empty down ,into the hollow earth4 ,too shrewd our priest ,to publish such a wonder1 and expose ,that consecrated life to second death4 ,scarce were the thirty days of mourning sped1 ,when we awoke to find his home left bare1 ,rebekah and her father fled from ,prague4 ,god grant they had glad meeting otherwhere6 ,,an ,,epistle4 ,from ,joshua ,ibn ,vives of ,allorqui to his ,former ,master1 ,solomon ,levi-,paul1 de ,santa-,maria1 ,bishop of ,cartegna ,chancellor of ,castile1 and ,privy ,councillor to ,king ,henry ,,iii4 of ,spain4 ,in this poem ,i have done little more than elaborate and versify the account given in ,graetz's ,history of the ,jews 7,vol4 ,,viii41 page #gg71 of an ,epistle actually written in the beginning of the #aeth century by ,joshua ben ,joseph ,ibn ,vives to ,paulus de ,santa ,maria--,e4,l4 ,i4 ,master and ,sage1 greetings and health to thee1 ,from thy most meek disciple6 ,deign once more ,endure me at thy feet1 enlighten me1 ,as when upon my boyish head of yore1 ,midst the rapt circle gathered round thy knee ,thy sacred vials of learning thou didst pour4 ,by the large lustre of thy wisdom orbed ,be my black doubts illumined and absorbed4 ,,ii4 ,oft ,i recall that golden time when thou1 ,born for no second station1 heldst with us ,the ,rabbi's chair1 who art priest and bishop now2 ,and we1 the youth of ,israel1 curious1 ,hung on thy counsels1 lifted reverent brow ,unto thy sanctity1 would fain discuss ,with thee our ,talmud problems good and evil1 ,till startled by the risen stars o'er ,seville4 ,,iii4 ,for on the ,synagogue's high-pillared porch ,thou didst hold session1 till the sudden sun ,beyond day's purple limit dropped his torch4 ,then we1 as dreamers1 woke1 to find outrun ,time's rapid sands4 ,the flame that may not scorch1 ,our hearts caught from thine eyes1 thou ,shining ,one4 ,i scent not yet sweet lemon-groves in flower1 ,but ,i re-breathe the peace of that deep hour4 ,,iv4 ,we kissed the sacred borders of thy gown1 ,brow-aureoled with thy blessing1 we went forth ,through the hushed byways of the twilight town4 ,then in all life but one thing seemed of worth1 ,to seek1 find1 love the ,truth4 ,she set her crown ,upon thy head1 our ,master1 at thy birth2 ,she bade thy lips drop honey1 fired thine eyes ,with the unclouded glow of sun-steeped skies4 ,v4 ,forgive me1 if ,i dwell on that which1 viewed ,from thy new vantage-ground1 must seem a mist ,of error1 by auroral youth endued ,with alien lustre4 ,still in me subsist ,those reeking vapors2 faith and gratitude ,still lead me to the hand my boy-lips kissed ,for benison and guidance4 ,not in wrath1 ,master1 but in wise patience1 point my path4 ,,vi4 ,for ,i1 thy servant1 gather in one sheaf ,the venomed shafts of slander1 which thy word ,shall shrivel to small dust4 ,if haply grief1 ,or momentary pain1 ,i deal1 my ,lord ,blame not thy servant's zeal1 nor be thou deaf ,unto my soul's blind cry for light4 ,accord-- ,pitying my love1 if too superb to care ,for hate-soiled name--an answer to my prayer4 ,,vii4 ,to me1 who1 vine to stone1 clung close to thee1 ,the very base of life appeared to quake ,when first ,i knew thee fallen from us1 to be ,a tower of strength among our foes1 to make ',twixt ,jew and ,jew deep-cloven enmity4 ,i have wept gall and blood for thy dear sake4 ,but now with temperate soul ,i calmly search ,motive and cause that bound thee to the ,church4 ,,viii4 ,four motives possible therefor ,i reach-- ,ambition1 doubt1 fear1 or mayhap--conviction4 ,i hear in turn ascribed thee all and each ,by ignorant folk who part not truth from fiction4 ,but ,i1 whom even thyself didst stoop to teach1 ,may poise the scales1 weigh this with that confliction1 ,yea1 sift the hid grain motive from the dense1 ,dusty1 eye-blinding chaff of consequence4 ,,ix4 ,ambition first6 ,i find no fleck thereof ,in all thy clean soul4 ,what6 could glory1 gold1 ,or sated senses lure thy lofty love8 ,no purple cloak to shield thee from the cold1 ,no jeweled sign to flicker thereabove1 ,and dazzle men to homage--joys untold ,of spiritual treasure1 grace divine1 ,alone 7so saidst thou7 coveting for thine6 ,x4 ,i saw thee mount with deprecating air1 ,step after step1 unto our ,jewish throne ,of supreme dignity1 the ,rabbi's chair2 ,shrinking from public honors thrust upon ,thy meek desert1 regretting even there ,the placid habit of thy life foregone2 ,silence obscure1 vast peace and austere days ,passed in wise contemplation1 prayer1 and praise4 ,,xi4 ,one less than thou had ne'er known such regret4 ,how must thou suffer1 who so lov'st the shade1 ,in ,fame's full glare1 whom one stride more shall set ,upon the ,papal seat6 ,i stand dismayed1 ,familiar with thy fearful soul1 and yet ,half glad1 perceiving modest worth repaid ,even by the ,christians6 ,could thy soul deflect8 ,no1 no1 thrice no6 ,ambition ,i reject6 ,,xii4 ,next doubt4 ,could doubt have swayed thee1 then ,i ask1 ,how enters doubt within the soul of man8 ,is it a door that opens1 or a mask ,that falls8 and ,truth's resplendent face we scan4 ,nay1 't is a creeping1 small1 blind worm1 whose task ,is gnawing at ,faith's base2 the whole vast plan ,rots1 crumbles1 eaten inch by inch within1 ,and on its ruins falsehood springs and sin4 ,,xiii4 ,but thee no doubt confused1 no problems vexed4 ,thy father's faith for thee proved bright and sweet4 ,thou foundst no rite superfluous1 no text ,obscure2 the path was straight before thy feet4 ,till thy baptismal day1 thou1 unperplexed ,by foreign dogma1 didst our prayers repeat1 ,honor the ,god of ,israel1 fast and feast1 ,even as thy people's wont1 from first to least4 ,,xiv4 ,yes1 ,doubt ,i likewise must discard4 ,not sleek1 ,full-faced1 erect of head1 men walk1 when doubt ,writhes at their entrails2 pinched and lean of cheek1 ,with brow pain-branded1 thou hadst strayed about ,as midst live men a ghost condemned to seek ,that soul he may nor live nor die without4 ,no doubts the font washed from thee1 thou didst glide ,from creed to creed1 complete1 sane-souled1 clear-eyed4 ,,xv4 ,thy pardon1 ,master1 if ,i dare sustain ,the thesis thou couldst entertain a fear4 ,i would but rout thine enemies1 who feign ,ignoble impulse prompted thy career4 ,i will but weigh the chances and make plain ,to ,envy's self the monstrous jest appear4 ,though time1 place1 circumstance confirmed in seeming1 ,one word from thee should frustrate all their scheming4 ,,xvi4 ,was ,israel glad in ,seville on the day ,thou didst renounce him8 ,then mightst thou indeed ,snap finger at whate'er thy slanderers say4 ,lothly must ,i admit1 just then the seed ,of ,jacob chanced upon a grievous way4 ,still from the wounds of that red year we bleed4 ,the curse had fallen upon our heads--the sword ,was whetted for the chosen of the ,lord4 ,,xvii4 ,there where we flourished like a fruitful palm1 ,we were uprooted1 spoiled1 lopped limb from limb4 ,a bolt undreamed of out of heavens calm1 ,so cracked our doom4 ,we were destroyed by him ,whose hand since childhood we had clasped4 ,with balm ,our head had been anointed1 at the brim ,our cup ran over--now our day was done1 ,our blood flowed free as water in the sun4 ,,xviii4 ,midst the four thousand of our tribe who held ,glad homes in ,seville1 never a one was spared1 ,some slaughtered at their hearthstones1 some expelled ,to ,moorish slavery4 ,cunningly ensnared1 ,baited and trapped were we2 their fierce monks yelled ,and thundered from our ,synagogues1 while flared ,the ,cross above the ,ark4 ,ah1 happiest they ,who fell unconquered martyrs on that day6 ,,xix4 ,for some 7,i write it with flushed cheek1 bowed head71 ,given free choice 'twixt death and shame1 chose shame1 ,denied the ,god who visibly had led ,their fathers1 pillared in a cloud of flame1 ,bathed in baptismal waters1 ate the bread ,which is their new ,lord's body1 took the name ,marranos the ,accursed1 whom equally ,jew1 ,moor1 and ,christian hate1 despise1 and flee4 ,,xx4 ,even one no less than an ,abarbanel ,prized miserable length of days1 above ,integrity of soul4 ,midst such who fell1 ,far be it1 however1 from my duteous love1 ,master1 to reckon thee4 ,thine own lips tell ,how fear nor torture thy firm will could move4 ,how thou midst panic nowise disconcerted1 ,by ,thomas of ,aquinas wast converted6 ,,xxi4 ,truly ,i know no more convincing way ,to read so wise an author1 than was thine4 ,when burning ,synagogues changed night to day1 ,and red swords underscored each word and line4 ,that was a light to read by6 ,who'd gainsay ,authority so clearly stamped divine8 ,on this side1 death and torture1 flame and slaughter1 ,on that1 a harmless wafer and clean water4 ,,xxii4 ,thou couldst not fear extinction for our race2 ,though ,christian sword and fire from town to town ,flash double bladed lightning to efface ,israel's image--though we bleed1 burn1 drown ,through ,christendom--'t is but a scanty space4 ,still are the ,asian hills and plains our own1 ,still are we lords in ,syria1 still are free1 ,nor doomed to be abolished utterly4 ,,xxiii4 ,one sole conclusion hence at last ,i find1 ,thou whom ambition1 doubt1 nor fear could swerve1 ,perforce hast been persuaded through the mind1 ,proved1 tested the new dogmas1 found them serve ,thy spirit's needs1 left flesh and sense behind1 ,accepted without shrinking or reserve1 ,the trans-substantial bread and wine1 the ,christ ,at whose shrine thine own kin were sacrificed4 ,,xxiv4 ,here then the moment comes when ,i crave light4 ,all's dark to me4 ,master1 if ,i be blind1 ,thou shalt unseal my lids and bless with sight1 ,or groping in the shadows1 ,i shall find ,whether within me or without1 dwell night4 ,oh cast upon my doubt-bewildered mind ,one ray from thy clear heaven of sun-bright faith1 ,grieving1 not wroth1 at what thy servant saith4 ,,xxv4 ,where are the signs fulfilled whereby all men ,should know the ,christ8 ,where is the wide-winged peace ,shielding the lamb within the lion's den8 ,the freedom broadening with the wars that cease8 ,do foes clasp hands in brotherhood again8 ,where is the promised garden of increase1 ,when like a rose the wilderness should bloom8 ,earth is a battlefield and ,spain a tomb4 ,,xxvi4 ,our ,god of ,sabaoth is an awful ,god ,of lightnings and of vengeance1--,christians say4 ,earth trembled1 nations perished at his nod2 ,his ,law has yielded to a milder sway4 ,theirs is the ,god of ,love whose feet have trod ,our common earth--draw near to him and pray1 ,meek-faced1 dove-eyed1 pure-browed1 the ,lord of life1 ,know him and kneel1 else at your throat the knife6 ,,xxvii4 ,this is the ,god of ,love1 whose altars reek ,with human blood1 who teaches men to hate2 ,torture past words1 or sins we may not speak ,wrought by his priests behind the convent-grate4 ,are his priests false8 or are his doctrines weak ,that none obeys him8 ,state at war with state1 ,church against church--yea1 ,pope at feud with ,pope ,in these tossed seas what anchorage for hope8 ,,xxviii4 ,not only for the sheep without the fold ,is the knife whetted1 who refuse to share ,blessings the shepherd wise doth not withhold ,even from the least among his flock--but there ,midmost the pale1 dissensions manifold1 ,lamb flaying lamb1 fierce sheep that rend and tear4 ,master1 if thou to thy pride's goal should come1 ,where wouldst thou throne--at ,avignon or ,rome8 ,,xxix4 ,i handle burning questions1 good my lord1 ,such as may kindle fagots1 well ,i wis4 ,your ,gospel not denies our older ,word1 ,but in a way completes and betters this4 ,the ,law of ,love shall supersede the sword1 ,so runs the promise1 but the facts ,i miss4 ,already needs this wretched generation1 ,a voice divine--a new1 third revelation4 ,,xxx4 ,two ,popes and their adherents fulminate ,ban against ban1 and to the nether hell ,condemn each other1 while the nations wait ,their ,christ to thunder forth from ,heaven1 and tell ,who is his rightful ,vicar1 reinstate ,his throne1 the hideous discord to dispel4 ,where shall ,i seek1 master1 while such things be1 ,celestial truth1 revealed certainty6 ,,xxxi4 ,not miracles ,i doubt1 for how dare man1 ,chief miracle of life's mystery1 say ,,he ,,knows8 ,how may he closely secret causes scan1 ,who learns not whence he comes nor where he goes8 ,like one who walks in sleep a doubtful span ,he gropes through all his days1 till ,death unclose ,his cheated eyes and in one blinding gleam1 ,wakes1 to discern the substance from the dream4 ,,xxxii4 ,i say not therefore ,i deny the birth1 ,the ,virgin's motherhood1 the resurrection1 ,who know not how mine own soul came to earth1 ,nor what shall follow death4 ,man's imperfection ,may bound not even in thought the height and girth ,of ,god's omnipotence2 neath his direction ,we may approach his essence1 but that ,he ,should dwarf ,himself to us--it cannot be6 ,,xxxiii4 ,the ,god who balances the clouds1 who spread ,the sky above us like a molten glass1 ,the ,god who shut the sea with doors1 who laid ,the corner-stone of earth1 who caused the grass ,spring forth upon the wilderness1 and made ,the darkness scatter and the night to pass-- ,that ,he should clothe ,himself with flesh1 and move ,midst worms a worm--this1 sun1 moon1 stars disprove4 ,,xxxiv4 ,help me1 ,o thou who wast my boyhood's guide1 ,i bend my exile-weary feet to thee1 ,teach me the indivisible to divide1 ,show me how three are one and ,one is three6 ,how ,christ to save all men was crucified1 ,yet ,i and mine are damned eternally4 ,instruct me1 ,sage1 why ,virtue starves alone1 ,while falsehood step by step ascends the throne4 ,,by ,,the ,,waters ,,of ,,babylon4 ,,little ,,poems ,,in ,,prose4 ,i4 ,,the ,,exodus4 7,august #c1 #adib47 #a4 ,the ,spanish noon is a blaze of azure fire1 and the dusty pilgrims crawl like an endless serpent along treeless plains and bleached highroads1 through rock-split ravines and castellated1 cathedral-shadowed towns4 #b4 ,the hoary patriarch1 wrinkled as an almond shell1 bows painfully upon his staff4 ,the beautiful young mother1 ivory-pale1 well-nigh swoons beneath her burden2 in her large enfolding arms nestles her sleeping babe1 round her knees flock her little ones with bruised and bleeding feet4 ,mother1 shall we soon be there8 #c4 ,the youth with ,christ-like countenance speaks comfortably to father and brother1 to maiden and wife4 ,in his breast1 his own heart is broken4 #d4 ,the halt1 the blind1 are amid the train4 ,sturdy pack-horses laboriously drag the tented wagons wherein lie the sick athirst with fever4 #e4 ,the panting mules are urged forward with spur and goad2 stuffed are the heavy saddlebags with the wreckage of ruined homes4 #f4 ,hark to the tinkling silver bells that adorn the tenderly-carried silken scrolls4 #g4 ,in the fierce noon-glare a lad bears a kindled lamp2 behind its net-work of bronze the airs of heaven breathe not upon its faint purple star4 #h4 ,noble and abject1 learned and simple1 illustrious and obscure1 plod side by side1 all brothers now1 all merged in one routed army of misfortune4 #i4 ,woe to the straggler who falls by the wayside6 no friend shall close his eyes4 #aj4 ,they leave behind1 the grape1 the olive1 and the fig2 the vines they planted1 the corn they sowed1 the garden-cities of ,andalusia and ,aragon1 ,estremadura and ,la ,mancha1 of ,granada and ,castile2 the altar1 the hearth1 and the grave of their fathers4 #aa4 ,the townsman spits at their garments1 the shepherd quits his flock1 the peasant his plow1 to pelt with curses and stones2 the villager sets on their trail his yelping cur4 #ab4 ,oh the weary march1 oh the uptorn roots of home1 oh the blankness of the receding goal6 #ac4 ,listen to their lamentation3 ,they that ate dainty food are desolate in the streets2 they that were reared in scarlet embrace dunghills4 ,they flee away and wander about4 ,men say among the nations1 they shall no more sojourn there2 our end is near1 our days are full1 our doom is come4 #ad4 ,whither shall they turn8 for the ,west hath cast them out1 and the ,east refuseth to receive4 #ae4 ,o bird of the air1 whisper to the despairing exiles1 that to-day1 to-day1 from the many-masted1 gayly-bannered port of ,palos1 sails the world-unveiling ,genoese1 to unlock the golden gates of sunset and bequeath a ,continent to ,freedom6 ,,ii4 ,,treasures4 #a4 ,through cycles of darkness the diamond sleeps in its coal-black prison4 #b4 ,purely incrusted in its scaly casket1 the breath-tarnished pearl slumbers in mud and ooze4 #c4 ,buried in the bowels of earth1 rugged and obscure1 lies the ingot of gold4 #d4 ,long hast thou been buried1 ,o ,israel1 in the bowels of earth2 long hast thou slumbered beneath the overwhelming waves2 long hast thou slept in the rayless house of darkness4 #e4 ,rejoice and sing1 for only thus couldst thou rightly guard the golden knowledge1 ,truth1 the delicate pearl and the adamantine jewel of the ,law4 ,,iii4 ,,the ,,sower4 #a4 ,over a boundless plain went a man1 carrying seed4 #b4 ,his face was blackened by sun and rugged from tempest1 scarred and distorted by pain4 ,naked to the loins1 his back was ridged with furrows1 his breast was plowed with stripes4 #c4 ,from his hand dropped the fecund seed4 #d4 ,and behold1 instantly started from the prepared soil a blade1 a sheaf1 a springing trunk1 a myriad-branching1 cloud-aspiring tree4 ,its arms touched the ends of the horizon1 the heavens were darkened with its shadow4 #e4 ,it bare blossoms of gold and blossoms of blood1 fruitage of health and fruitage of poison2 birds sang amid its foliage1 and a serpent was coiled about its stem4 #f4 ,under its branches a divinely beautiful man1 crowned with thorns1 was nailed to a cross4 #g4 ,and the tree put forth treacherous boughs to strangle the ,sower2 his flesh was bruised and torn1 but cunningly he disentangled the murderous knot and passed to the eastward4 #h4 ,again there dropped from his hand the fecund seed4 #i4 ,and behold1 instantly started from the prepared soil a blade1 a sheaf1 a springing trunk1 a myriad-branching1 cloud-aspiring tree4 ,crescent shaped like little emerald moons were the leaves2 it bare blossoms of silver and blossoms of blood1 fruitage of health and fruitage of poison2 birds sang amid its foliage and a serpent was coiled about its stem4 #aj4 ,under its branches a turbaned mighty-limbed ,prophet brandished a drawn sword4 #aa4 ,and behold1 this tree likewise puts forth perfidious arms to strangle the ,sower2 but cunningly he disentangles the murderous knot and passes on4 #ab4 ,lo1 his hands are not empty of grain1 the strength of his arm is not spent4 #ac4 ,what germ hast thou saved for the future1 ,o miraculous ,husbandman8 ,tell me1 thou ,planter of ,christhood and ,islam2 tell me1 thou seed-bearing ,israel6 ,,iv4 ,,the ,,test4 #a4 ,daylong ,i brooded upon the ,passion of ,israel4 #b4 ,i saw him bound to the wheel1 nailed to the cross1 cut off by the sword1 burned at the stake1 tossed into the seas4 #c4 ,and always the patient1 resolute1 martyr face arose in silent rebuke and defiance4 #d4 ,a ,prophet with four eyes2 wide gazed the orbs of the spirit above the sleeping eyelids of the senses4 #e4 ,a ,poet1 who plucked from his bosom the quivering heart and fashioned it into a lyre4 #f4 ,a placid-browed ,sage1 uplifted from earth in celestial meditation4 #g4 ,these ,i saw1 with princes and people in their train2 the monumental dead and the standard-bearers of the future4 #h4 ,and suddenly ,i heard a burst of mocking laughter1 and turning1 ,i beheld the shuffling gait1 the ignominious features1 the sordid mask of the son of the ,ghetto4 ,v4 ,,currents4 #a4 ,vast oceanic movements1 the flux and reflux of immeasurable tides1 oversweep our continent4 #b4 ,from the far ,caucasian steppes1 from the squalid ,ghettos of ,europe1 #c4 ,from ,odessa and ,bucharest1 from ,kief1 and ,ekaterinoslav1 #d4 ,hark to the cry of the exiles of ,babylon1 the voice of ,rachel mourning for her children1 of ,israel lamenting for ,zion4 #e4 ,and lo1 like a turbid stream1 the long-pent flood bursts the dykes of oppression and rushes hitherward4 #f4 ,unto her ample breast1 the generous mother of nations welcomes them4 #g4 ,the herdsman of ,canaan and the seed of ,jerusalem's royal shepherd renew their youth amid the pastoral plains of ,texas and the golden valleys of the ,sierras4 ,,vi4 ,,the ,,prophet4 #a4 ,moses ,ben ,maimon lifting his perpetual lamp over the path of the perplexed2 #b4 ,hallevi1 the honey-tongued poet1 wakening amid the silent ruins of ,zion the sleeping lyre of ,david2 #c4 ,moses1 the wise son of ,mendel1 who made the ,ghetto illustrious2 #d4 ,abarbanel1 the counselor of kings2 ,alcharisi1 the exquisite singer2 ,ibn ,ezra1 the perfect old man2 ,gabirol1 the tragic seer2 #e4 ,heine1 the enchanted magician1 the heartbroken jester2 #f4 ,yea1 and the century-crowned patriarch whose bounty engirdles the globe2-- #g4 ,these need no wreath and no trumpet2 like perennial asphodel blossoms1 their fame1 their glory resounds like the brazen-throated cornet4 #h4 ,but thou--hast thou faith in the fortune of ,israel8 ,wouldst thou lighten the anguish of ,jacob8 #i4 ,then shalt thou take the hand of yonder caftaned wretch with flowing curls and gold-pierced ears2 #aj4 ,who crawls blinking forth from the loathsome recesses of the ,jewry2 #aa4 ,nerveless his fingers1 puny his frame2 haunted by the bat-like phantoms of superstition is his brain4 #ab4 ,thou shalt say to the bigot1 ,my ,brother1 and to the creature of darkness1 ,my ,friend4 #ac4 ,and thy heart shall spend itself in fountains of love upon the ignorant1 the coarse1 and the abject4 #ad4 ,then in the obscurity thou shalt hear a rush of wings1 thine eyes shall be bitten with pungent smoke4 #ae4 ,and close against thy quivering lips shall be pressed the live coal wherewith the ,seraphim brand the ,prophets4 ,,vii4 ,,chrysalis4 #a4 ,long1 long has the ,orient-,jew spun around his helplessness the cunningly enmeshed web of ,talmud and ,kabbala4 #b4 ,imprisoned in dark corners of misery and oppression1 closely he drew about him the dust-gray filaments1 soft as silk and stubborn as steel1 until he lay death-stiffened in mummied seclusion4 #c4 ,and the world has named him an ugly worm1 shunning the blessed daylight4 #d4 ,but when the emancipating springtide breathes wholesome1 quickening airs1 when the ,sun of ,love shines out with cordial fires1 lo1 the ,soul of ,israel bursts her cobweb sheath1 and flies forth attired in the winged beauty of immortality4 ,,to ,,carmen ,,sylva4 ,oh1 that the golden lyre divine ,whence ,david smote flame-tones were mine6 ,oh1 that the silent harp which hung ,untuned1 unstrung1 ,upon the willows by the river1 ,would throb beneath my touch and quiver ,with the old song-enchanted spell ,of ,israel6 ,oh1 that the large prophetic ,voice ,would make my reed-piped throat its choice6 ,all ears should prick1 all hearts should spring1 ,to hear me sing ,the burden of the isles1 the word ,assyria knew1 ,damascus heard1 ,when1 like the wind1 while cedars shake1 ,isaiah spake4 ,for ,i would frame a song to-day ,winged like a bird to cleave its way ,o'er land and sea that spread between1 ,to where a ,queen ,sits with a triple coronet4 ,genius and ,sorrow both have set ,their diadems above the gold-- ,a ,queen three-fold6 ,to her the forest lent its lyre1 ,hers are the sylvan dews1 the fire ,of ,orient suns1 the mist-wreathed gleams ,of mountain streams4 ,she1 the imperial ,rhine's own child1 ,takes to her heart the wood-nymph wild1 ,the gypsy ,pelech1 and the wide1 ,white ,danube's tide4 ,she who beside an infant's bier ,long since resigned all hope to hear ,the sacred name of ,mother bless ,her childlessness1 ,now from a people's sole acclaim ,receives the heart-vibrating name1 ,and ,mother1 ,mother1 ,mother6 fills ,the echoing hills4 ,yet who is he who pines apart1 ,estranged from that maternal heart1 ,ungraced1 unfriended1 and forlorn1 ,the butt of scorn8 ,an alien in his land of birth1 ,an outcast from his brethren's earth1 ,albeit with theirs his blood mixed well ,when ,plevna fell8 ,when all ,roumania's chains were riven1 ,when unto all his sons was given ,the hero's glorious reward1 ,reaped by the sword1-- ,wherefore was this poor thrall1 whose chains ,hung heaviest1 within whose veins ,the oldest blood of freedom streamed1 ,still unredeemed8 ,o ,mother1 ,poet1 ,queen in one6 ,pity and save--he is thy son4 ,for poet ,david's sake1 the king ,of all who sing2 ,for thine own people's sake who share ,his law1 his truth1 his praise1 his prayer2 ,for his sake who was sacrificed-- ,his brother--,christ6 ,,the ,,dance ,,to ,,death2 ,a ,historical ,tragedy in ,five ,acts4 ,this play is dedicated1 in profound veneration and respect1 to the memory of ,george ,eliot1 the illustrious writer1 who did most among the artists of our day towards elevating and ennobling the spirit of ,jewish nationality4 ,,the ,,persons4 ,,frederick ,,the ,,grave1 ,landgrave of ,thuringia and ,margrave of ,meissen1 ,protector and ,patron of the ,free ,city of ,nordhausen4 ,,prince ,,william ,,of ,,meissen1 his son4 ,,susskind ,,von ,,orb1 a ,jew4 ,,henry ,,schnetzen1 ,governor of ,salza4 ,,henry ,,nordmann ,,of ,,nordmannstein1 ,knight of ,treffurt4 ,,reinhard ,,peppercorn1 ,prior of ,wartburg ,monastery4 ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,,dietrich ,,von ,,tettenborn1 ,president of the ,council4 ,,reuben ,,von ,,orb1 a boy1 ,susskind's son4 ,,baruch and ,,naphtali1,jews4 ,,rabbi ,,cresselin4 ,,lay-,,brother4 ,,page4 ,,public ,,scrivener4 ,,princess ,,mathildis1 wife to ,frederick4 ,,liebhaid ,,von ,,orb4 ,,claire ,,cresselin4 ,jews1 ,jewesses1 ,burghers1 ,senators1 ,citizens1 ,citizen's ,wife and ,boy1 ,flagellants1 ,servants1 ,guardsmen4 ,scene--,partly in ,nordhausen1 partly in ,eisenach4 ,time1 ,may1 #dth1 #eth1 #fth1 #acdi4 ,,act ,i4--,in ,nordhausen4 ,,scene ,i4 ,a street in the ,judengasse1 outside the ,synagogue4 ,during this ,scene ,jews and ,jewesses1 singly and in groups1 with prayer-books in their hands1 pass across the stage1 and go into the ,synagogue4 ,among them1 enter ,,baruch and ,,naphtali4 ,,naphtali4 ,hast seen him yet8 ,,baruch4 ,nay2 ,rabbi ,jacob's door ,swung to behind him1 just as ,i puffed up ,o'erblown with haste4 ,see how our years weigh1 cousin4 ,who'd judge me with this paunch a temperate man1 ,a man of modest means1 a man withal ,scarce overpast his prime8 ,well1 ,god be praised1 ,if age bring no worse burden6 ,who is this stranger8 ,simon the ,leech tells me he claims to bear ,some special message from the ,lord--no doubt ,to-morrow1 fresh from rest1 he'll publish it ,within the ,synagogue4 ,,naphtali4 ,to-morrow1 man8 ,he will not hear of rest--he comes anon-- ,shall we within8 ,,baruch4 ,rather let's wait1 ,and scrutinize him as he mounts the street4 ,since you denote him so remarkable1 ,you've whetted my desire4 ,,naphtali4 ,a blind1 old man1 ,mayhap is all you'll find him--spent with travel1 ,his raiment fouled with dust1 his sandaled feet ,road-bruised by stone and bramble4 ,but his face6-- ,majestic with long fall of cloud-white beard1 ,and hoary wreath of hair--oh1 it is one ,already kissed by angels4 ,,baruch4 ,look1 there limps ,little ,manasseh1 bloated as his purse1 ,and wrinkled as a frost-pinched fruit4 ,i hear ,his last loan to the ,syndic will result ,in quadrupling his wealth4 ,good ,lord6 what luck ,blesses some folk1 while good men stint and sweat ,and scrape1 to merely fill the household larder4 ,what said you of this pilgrim1 ,naphtali8 ,these inequalities of fortune rub ,my sense of justice so against the grain1 ,i lose my very name4 ,whence does he come8 ,is he alone8 ,,naphtali4 ,he comes from ,chinon1 ,france4 ,rabbi ,cresselin he calls himself--alone ,save for his daughter who has led him hither4 ,a beautiful1 pale girl with round black eyes4 ,,baruch4 ,bring they fresh tidings of the pestilence8 ,,naphtali4 ,i know not--but ,i learn from other source ,it has burst forth at ,erfurt4 ,,baruch4 ,god have mercy6 ,have many of our tribe been stricken8 ,,naphtali4 ,no4 ,they cleanse their homes and keep their bodies sweet1 ,nor cease from prayer--and so does ,jacob's ,god ,protect ,his chosen1 still4 ,yet even ,his favor ,our enemies would twist into a curse4 ,beholding the destroying angel smite ,the foal idolater and leave unscathed ,the gates of ,israel--the old cry they raise-- ,,we have begotten the ,black ,death--,,we poison ,the well-springs of the towns4 ,,baruch4 ,god pity us6 ,but truly are we blessed in ,nordhausen4 ,such terrors seem remote as ,egypt's plagues4 ,i warrant you our ,landgrave dare not harry ,such creditors as we4 ,see1 here comes one1 ,the greatest and most liberal of them all-- ,susskind von ,orb4 ,,susskind ,,von ,,orb1 ,,liebhaid1 and ,,reuben enter1 all pass across the stage1 and disappear within the ,synagogue4 ,i'd barter my whole fortune1 ,and yours to boot1 that's thrice the bulk of mine1 ,for half the bonds he holds in ,frederick's name4 ,the richest merchant in ,thuringia1 he-- ,the poise of his head would tell it1 knew we not4 ,how has his daughter leaped to womanhood6 ,i mind when she came toddling by his hand1 ,but yesterday--a flax-haired child--to-day ,her brow is level with his pompous chin4 ,,naphtali4 ,how fair she is6 ,her hair has kept its gold ,untarnished still4 ,i trace not either parent ,in her face1 clean cut as a gem4 ,,baruch4 ,her mother ,was far-off kin to me1 and ,i might pass1 ,i'm told1 unguessed in ,christian garb4 ,i know ,a pretty secret of that scornful face4 ,it lures high game to ,nordhausen4 ,,naphtali4 ,baruch1 ,i marvel at your prompt credulity4 ,the ,prince of ,meissen and ,liebhaid von ,orb6 ,a jest for gossips and--,look1 look1 he comes6 ,,baruch4 ,who's that1 the ,prince8 ,,naphtali4 ,nay1 dullard1 the old man1 ,the ,rabbi of ,chinon4 ,ah6 his stout staff1 ,and that brave creature's strong young hand suffice ,scarcely to keep erect his tottering frame4 ,emaciate-lipped1 with cavernous black eyes ,whose inward visions do eclipse the day1 ,seems he not one re-risen from the grave ,to yield the secret8 ,enter ,,rabbi ,,jacob1 and ,,rabbi ,,cresselin led by ,,claire4 ,they walk across the stage1 and disappear in the ,synagogue4 ,,baruch 7exaltedly74 ,blessed art thou1 ,o ,lord1 ,king of the ,universe1 who teachest wisdom ,to those who fear thee6 ,,naphtali4 ,haste we in4 ,the star ,of ,sabbath dawns4 ,,baruch4 ,my flesh is still a-creep ,from the strange gaze of those wide-rolling orbs4 ,didst note1 man1 how they fixed me8 ,his lean cheeks1 ,as wan as wax1 were bloodless2 how his arms ,stretched far beyond the flowing sleeve and showed ,gaunt1 palsied wrists1 and hands blue-tipped with death6 ,well1 ,i have seen a sage of ,israel4 ,they enter the ,synagogue4 ,scene closes4 ,,scene ,,ii4 ,the ,synagogue crowded with worshippers4 ,among the women in the ,gallery are discovered ,,liebhaid ,,von ,,orb and ,,claire ,,cresselin4 ,below1 among the men1 ,,susskind ,,von ,,orb and ,,reuben4 ,at the ,reader's ,desk1 ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,fronting the audience under the ,ark of the ,covenant1 stands a high desk1 behind which is seen the white head of an old man bowed in prayer4 ,,baruch and ,,naphtali enter and take their seats4 ,,baruch4 ,think you he speaks before the service8 ,,naphtali4 ,yea4 ,lo1 phantom-like the towering patriarch6 ,,rabbi ,,cresselin slowly rises beneath the ,ark4 ,,rabbi ,,cresselin4 ,woe unto ,israel6 woe unto all ,abiding 'mid strange peoples6 ,ye shall be ,cut off from that land where ye made your home4 ,i1 ,cresselin of ,chinon1 have traveled far1 ,thence where my fathers dwelt1 to warn my race1 ,for whom the fire and stake have been prepared4 ,our brethren of ,verdun1 all over ,france1 ,are burned alive beneath the ,goyim's torch4 ,what terrors have ,i witnessed1 ere my sight ,was mercifully quenched6 ,in ,gascony1 ,in ,savoy1 ,piedmont1 round the garden shores ,of tranquil ,leman1 down the beautiful ,rhine1 ,at ,lindau1 ,costnitz1 ,schaffhausen1 ,st4 ,gallen1 ,everywhere torture1 smoking ,synagogues1 ,carnage1 and burning flesh4 ,the lights shine out ,of ,jewish virtue1 ,jewish truth1 to star ,the sanguine field with an immortal blazon4 ,the venerable ,mar-,isaac in ,cologne1 ,sat in his house at prayer1 nor lifted lid ,from off the sacred text1 while all around ,the fanatics ran riot2 him they seized1 ,haled through the streets1 with prod of stick and spike ,fretted his wrinkled flesh1 plucked his white beard4 ,dragged him with gibes into their ,church1 and held ,a ,crucifix before him4 ,know thy ,lord6 ,he spat thereon2 he was pulled limb from limb4 ,i saw--,god1 that ,i might forget6--a man ,leap in the ,loire1 with his fair1 stalwart son1 ,a-bloom with youth1 and midst the stream unsheathe ,a poniard1 sheathing it in his boy's heart1 ,while he pronounced the blessing for the dead4 ,amen6 the lad responded as he sank1 ,and the white water darkened as with wine4 ,i saw--but no6 ,you are glutted1 and my tongue1 ,blistered1 refuseth to narrate more woe4 ,i have known much sorrow4 ,when it pleased the ,lord ,to afflict us with the horde of ,pastoureaux1 ,the rabble of armed herdsmen1 peasants1 slaves1 ,men-beasts of burden--coarse as the earth they tilled1 ,who like an inundation deluged ,france ,to drown our race--my heart held firm1 my faith ,shook not upon her rock until ,i saw1 ,smit by ,god's beam1 the big black cloud dissolve4 ,then followed with their scythes1 spades1 clubs1 and banners ,flaunting the ,cross1 the hosts of ,armleder1 ,from whose fierce wounds we scarce are healed to-day4 ,yet do ,i say the cup of bitterness ,that ,israel has drained is but a draught ,of cordial1 to the cup that is prepared4 ,the ,black ,death and the ,brothers of the ,cross1 ,these are our foes--and these are everywhere4 ,i who am blind see ruin in their wake2 ,ye who have eyes and limbs1 arise and flee6 ,to-morrow the ,flagellants will be here4 ,god's angel visited my sleep and spake3 ,thy ,jewish kin in the ,thuringian town ,of ,nordhausen shall be swept off from earth1 ,their elders and their babes--consumed with fire4 ,go summon ,israel to flight--take this ,as sign that ,i1 who call thee1 am the ,lord1 ,thine eyes shalt be struck blind till thou hast spoken4 ,then darkness fell upon my mortal sense1 ,but light broke o'er my soul1 and all was clear1 ,and ,i have journeyed hither with my child ,o'er mount and river1 till ,i have announced ,the message of the ,everlasting ,god4 ,sensation in the ,synagogue4 ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,father1 have mercy6 when wilt thou have done ,with rod and scourge8 ,beneath thy children's feet ,earth splits1 fire springs4 ,no rest1 no rest6 no rest1 ,a ,,voice4 ,look to the women6 ,marianne swoons6 ,,another ,,voice4 ,woe unto us who sinned6 ,,another ,,voice4 ,we're all dead men4 ,fly1 fly ere dawn as our forefathers fled ,from out the land of ,egypt4 ,,baruch4 ,are ye mad8 ,shall we desert snug homes8 forego the sum ,scraped through laborious years to smooth life's slope1 ,and die like dogs unkenneled and untombed1 ,at bidding of a sorrow-crazed old man8 ,a ,,voice4 ,he flouts the ,lord's anointed6 ,cast him forth6 ,,susskind ,,von ,,orb4 ,peace1 brethren1 peace6 ,if ,i have ever served ,israel with purse1 arm1 brain1 or heart--now hear me6 ,may ,god instruct my speech6 ,this wise old man1 ,whose brow flames with the majesty of truth1 ,may be part-blinded through excess of light1 ,as one who eyes too long the naked sun1 ,setting in rayless glory1 turns and finds ,outlines confused1 familiar colors changed1 ,all objects branded with one blood-bright spot4 ,nor chafe at ,baruch's homely sense2 truth floats ,midway between the stars and the abyss4 ,we1 by ,god's grace1 have found a special nest ,i' the dangerous rock1 screened against wind and hawk2 ,free burghers of a free town1 blessed moreover ,with the peculiar favor of the ,prince1 ,frederick the ,grave1 our patron and protector4 ,what shall we fear8 ,rather1 where shall we seek ,secure asylum1 if here be not one8 ,fly8 ,our forefathers had the wilderness1 ,the sea their gateway1 and the fire-cored cloud ,their divine guide4 ,us1 hedged by ambushed foes1 ,no frank1 free1 kindly desert shall receive4 ,death crouches on all sides1 prepared to leap ,tiger-like on our throats1 when first we step ,from this safe covert4 ,everywhere the ,plague6 ,as nigh as ,erfurt it has crawled--the towns ,reek with miasma1 the rank fields of spring1 ,rain-saturated1 are one beautiful--lie1 ,smiling profuse life1 and secreting death4 ,strange how1 unbidden1 a trivial memory ,thrusts itself on my mind in this grave hour4 ,i saw a large white bull urged through the town ,to slaughter by a stripling with a goad1 ,whom but one sure stamp of that solid heel1 ,one toss of those mooned horns1 one battering blow ,of that square marble forehead1 would have crushed1 ,as we might crush a worm1 yet on he trudged1 ,patient1 in powerful health to death4 ,at once1 ,as though o' the sudden stung1 he roared aloud1 ,beat with fierce hoofs the air1 shook desperately ,his formidable head1 and heifer-swift1 ,raced through scared1 screaming streets4 ,well1 and the end8 ,he was the promptlier bound and killed and quartered4 ,the world belongs to man2 dreams the poor brute ,some nook has been apportioned for brute life8 ,where shall a man escape men's cruelty8 ,where shall ,god's servant cower from his doom8 ,let us bide1 brethren--we are in ,his hand4 ,,rabbi ,,cresselin 7uttering a piercing shriek74 ,ah6 ,woe unto ,israel6 ,lo1 ,i see again1 ,as the ,ineffable foretold4 ,i see ,a flood of fire that streams towards the town4 ,look1 the destroying ,angel with the sword1 ,wherefrom the drops of gall are raining down1 ,broad-winged1 comes flying towards you4 ,now he draws ,his lightning-glittering blade6 ,with the keen edge ,he smiteth ,israel--ah6 ,he falls back dead4 ,confusion in the ,synagogue4 ,,claire 7from the gallery74 ,father6 ,my father6 ,let me go down to him6 ,,liebhaid4 ,sweet girl1 be patient4 ,this is the ,house of ,god1 and ,he hath entered4 ,bow we and pray4 ,meanwhile1 some of the men surround and raise from the ground the body of ,,rabbi ,,cresselin4 ,several voices speaking at once4 #a,,st ,,voice4 ,he's doomed4 #b;,d ,,voice4 ,dead6 ,dead6 #c;,d ,,voice4 ,a judgment6 #d,,th ,,voice4 ,make way there6 ,air6 ,carry him forth6 ,he's warm6 #c;,d ,,voice4 ,nay1 his heart's stopped--his breath has ceased--quite dead4 #e,,th ,,voice4 ,didst mark a diamond lance flash from the roof1 ,and strike him 'twixt the eyes8 #a,,st ,,voice4 ,our days are numbered4 ,this is the token4 ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,lift the corpse and pray4 ,shall we neglect ,god's due observances1 ,while ,he is manifest in miracle8 ,i saw a blaze seven times more bright than fire1 ,crest1 halo-wise1 the patriarch's white head4 ,the dazzle stung my burning lids--they closed1 ,one instant--when they oped1 the great blank cloud ,had settled on his countenance forever499 ,departed brother1 mayest thou find the gates ,of heaven open1 see the city of peace1 ,and meet the ministering angels1 glad1 ,hastening towards thee6 ,may the ,high ,priest stand ,to greet and bless thee6 ,go thou to the end6 ,repose in peace and rise again to life4 ,no more thy sun sets1 neither wanes thy moon4 ,the ,lord shall be thy everlasting light1 ,thy days of mourning shall be at an end4 ,for you1 my flock1 fear nothing2 it is writ ,as one his mother comforteth1 so ,i ,will comfort you and in ,jerusalem ,ye shall be comforted4 ,scene closes4 99,from this point to the end of the scene is a literal translation of the ,hebrew burial service4 ,,scene ,,iii4 ,evening4 ,a crooked byway in the ,judengasse4 ,enter ,,prince ,,william4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,cursed be these twisted lanes6 ,i have missed the clue ,of the close labyrinth4 ,nowhere in sight1 ,just when ,i lack it1 a stray gaberdine ,to pick me up my thread4 ,yet when ,i haste ,through these blind streets1 unwishful to be spied1 ,some dozen hawk-eyes peering o'er crook'd beaks ,leer recognition1 and obsequious caps ,do kiss the stones to greet my princeship4 ,bah6 ,strange1 'midst such refuse sleeps so white a pearl4 ,at last1 here shuffles one4 ,enter a ,jew4 ,give you good even6 ,sir1 can you help me to the nighest way ,unto the merchant's house1 ,susskind von ,orb8 ,,jew4 ,whence come you knowing not the high brick wall1 ,without1 blank as my palm1 o' the inner side1 ,muring a palace8 ,but--do you wish him well8 ,he is my friend--we must be wary1 wary1 ,we all have warning--,oh1 the terror of it6 ,i have not yet my wits6 ,,prince ,,william4 ,i am his friend4 ,is he in peril8 ,what's the matter1 man8 ,,jew4 ,peril8 ,his peril is no worse than mine1 ,but the rich win compassion4 ,god is just1 ,and every man of us is doomed4 ,alack6 ,,he said it--oh those wild1 white eyes6 ,,prince ,,william4 ,i pray you1 ,tell me the way to ,susskind's home4 ,,jew4 ,sweet master1 ,you look the perfect knight1 what can you crave ,of us starved1 wretched ,jews8 ,leave us in peace4 ,the ,judengasse gates will shut anon1 ,nor ope till morn again for ,jew or ,gentile4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,here's gold4 ,i am the ,prince of ,meissen--speak6 ,,jew4 ,oh pardon6 ,let me kiss your mantle's edge4 ,this way1 great sir1 ,i lead you there myself1 ,if you deign follow one so poor1 so humble4 ,you must show mercy in the name of ,god1 ,for verily are we afflicted4 ,come4 ,hard by is ,susskind's dwelling--as we walk ,by your good leave ,i'll tell what ,i have seen4 ,exeunt4 ,,scene ,,iv4 ,a luxuriously-furnished apartment in ,,susskind ,,von ,,orb',s house4 ,upon a richly-spread supper-table stands the seven-branched silver candlestick of the ,sabbath eve4 ,at the table are seated ,,susskind ,,von ,,orb1 ,,liebhaid1 and ,,reuben4 ,,susskind4 ,drink1 children1 drink6 and lift your hearts to ,him ,who gives us the vine's fruit4 ,they drink4 ,how clear it glows2 ,like gold within the golden bowl1 like fire ,along our veins1 after the work-day week ,rekindling ,sabbath-fervor1 ,sabbath-strength4 ,verily ,god prepares for me a table ,in presence of mine enemies6 ,he anoints ,my head with oil1 my cup is overflowing4 ,praise we ,his name6 ,hast thou1 my daughter1 served ,the needs o' the poor1 suddenly-orphaned child8 ,naught must she lack beneath my roof4 ,,liebhaid4 ,yea1 father4 ,she prays and weeps within3 she had no heart ,for ,sabbath meal1 but charged me with her thanks-- ,,susskind4 ,thou shalt be mother and sister in one to her4 ,speak to her comfortably4 ,,reuben4 ,she has begged ,a grace of me ,i happily can grant4 ,after our evening-prayer1 to lead her back ,unto the ,synagogue1 where sleeps her father1 ,a light at head and foot1 o'erwatched by strangers2 ,she would hold vigil4 ,,susskind4 ',t is a pious wish1 ,not to be crossed1 befitting ,israel's daughter4 ,go1 ,reuben2 heavily the moments hang1 ,while her heart yearns to break beside his corpse4 ,receive my blessing4 ,he places his hands upon his son's head in benediction4 ,exit ,reuben4 ,henceforth her home is here4 ,in the event to-night1 ,god's finger points ,visibly out of heaven4 ,a thick cloud ,befogs the future4 ,but just here is light4 ,enter a servant ushering in ,,prince ,,william4 ,,servant4 ,his highness ,prince of ,meissen4 ,exit4 ,,susskind4 ,welcome1 ,prince6 ,god bless thy going forth and coming in6 ,sit at our table and accept the cup ,of welcome which my daughter fills4 ,,liebhaid offers him wine4 ,,prince ,,william 7drinking74 ,to thee6 ,all take their seats at the table4 ,i heard disquieting news as ,i came hither4 ,the apparition in the ,synagogue1 ,the miracle of the message and the death4 ,susskind von ,orb1 what think'st thou of these things8 ,,susskind4 ,i think1 sir1 we are in the hand of ,god1 ,i trust the ,prince--your father and my friend4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,trust no man6 flee6 ,i have not come to-night ,to little purpose4 ,your arch enemy1 ,the ,governor of ,salza1 ,henry ,schnetzen1 ,has won my father's ear4 ,since yester eve ,he stops at ,eisenach1 begging of the ,prince ,the ,jews' destruction4 ,,susskind 7calmly74 ,schnetzen is my foe1 ,i know it1 but ,i know a talisman1 ,which at a word transmutes his hate to love4 ,liebhaid1 my child1 look cheerly4 ,what is this8 ,harm dare not touch thee2 the oppressor's curse1 ,melts into blessing at thy sight4 ,,liebhaid4 ,not fear ,plucks at my heart-strings1 father1 though the air ,thickens with portents2 't is the thought of flight1 ,but no--,i follow thee4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,thou shalt not miss ,the value of a hair from thy home treasures4 ,all that thou lovest1 ,liebhaid1 goes with thee4 ,knowest thou1 ,susskind1 ,schnetzen's cause of hate8 ,,susskind4 ',t is rooted in an ancient error1 born ,during his feud with ,landgrave ,fritz the ,bitten1 ,your ,highness' grandsire--ten years--twenty--back4 ,misled to think ,i had betrayed his castle1 ,who knew the secret tunnel to its courts1 ,he has nursed a baseless grudge1 whereat ,i smile1 ,sure to disarm him by the simple truth4 ,god grant me strength to utter it4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,you fancy ,the rancor of a bad heart slow distilled ,through venomed years1 so at a breath1 dissolves4 ,o good old man1 i' the world1 not of the world6 ,belike1 himself forgets the doubtful core ,of this still-curdling1 petrifying ooze4 ,truth8 why truth glances from the callous mass1 ,a spear against a rock4 ,he hugs his hate1 ,his bed-fellow1 his daily1 life-long comrade2 ,think you he has slept1 ate1 drank with it this while1 ,now to forego revenge on such slight cause ,as the revealed truth8 ,,susskind4 ,you mistake my thought1 ,great-hearted ,prince1 and justly--for ,i speak ,in riddles1 till ,god's time to make all clear4 ,when ,his day dawns1 the blind shall see4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,forgive me1 ,if ,i1 in wit and virtue your disciple1 ,seem to instruct my master4 ,accident ,lifts me where ,i survey a broader field ,than wise men stationed lower4 ,i spy peril1 ,fierce flame invisible from the lesser peaks4 ,god's time is now4 ,delayed truth leaves a lie ,triumphant4 ,if you harbor any secret1 ,potent to force an ear that's locked to mercy1 ,in ,god's name1 now disbosom it4 ,,susskind4 ,kind ,heaven6 ,would that my people's safety were assured ,so is my child's6 ,where shall we turn8 ,where flee8 ,for all around us the ,black ,angel broods4 ,we step into the open jaws of death ,if we go hence4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,better to fall beneath ,the hand of ,god1 than be cut off by man4 ,,susskind4 ,we are trapped1 the springe is set4 ,not ignorantly ,i offered counsel in the ,synagogue1 ,quelled panic with authoritative calm1 ,but knowing1 having weighed the opposing risks4 ,our friends in ,strasburg have been overmastered1 ,the imperial voice is drowned1 the papal arm ,drops paralyzed--both1 lifted for the truth2 ,we can but front with brave eyes1 brow erect1 ,as is our wont1 the fullness of our doom4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,then ,meissen's sword champions your desperate cause4 ,i take my stand here where my heart is fixed4 ,i love your daughter--if her love consent1 ,i pray you1 give me her to wife4 ,,liebhaid4 ,ah6 ,,susskind4 ,prince1 ,let not this ,saxon skin1 this hair's gold fleece1 ,these ,rhine-blue eyes mislead thee--she is alien4 ,to the heart's core a ,jewess--prop of my house1 ,soul of my soul--and ,i8 a despised ,jew4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,thy propped house crumbles2 let my arm sustain ,its tottering base--thy light is on the wane1 ,let me relume it4 ,give thy star to me1 ,or ever pitch-black night engulf us all-- ,lend me your voice1 ,liebhaid1 entreat for me4 ,shall this prayer be your first that he denies8 ,,liebhaid4 ,father1 my heart's desire is one with his4 ,,susskind4 ,is this the will of ,god8 ,amen6 ,my children1 ,be patient with me1 ,i am full of trouble4 ,for you1 heroic ,prince1 could aught enhance ,your love's incomparable nobility1 ',t were the foreboding horror of this hour1 ,wherein you dare flash forth its lightning-sword4 ,you reckon not1 in the hot1 splendid moment ,of great resolve1 the cold insidious breath ,wherewith the outer world shall blast and freeze-- ,but hark6 ,i own a mystic amulet1 ,which you delivering to your gracious father1 ,shall calm his rage withal1 and change his scorn ,of the ,jew's daughter into pure affection4 ,i will go fetch it--though ,i drain my heart ,of its red blood1 to yield this sacrifice4 ,exit ,,susskind4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,have you no smile to welcome love with1 ,liebhaid8 ,why should you tremble8 ,,liebhaid4 ,prince1 ,i am afraid6 ,afraid of my own heart1 my unfathomed joy1 ,a blasphemy against my father's grief1 ,my people's agony4 ,i dare be happy-- ,so happy6 in the instant's lull betwixt ,the dazzle and the crash of doom4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,you read ,the omen falsely2 rather is your joy ,the thrilling harbinger of general dawn4 ,did you not tell me scarce a month agone1 ,when ,i chanced in on you at feast and prayer1 ,the holy time's bright legend8 of the queen1 ,strong1 beautiful1 resolute1 who denied her race ,to save her race1 who cast upon the die ,of her divine and simple loveliness1 ,her life1 her soul1--and so redeemed her tribe4 ,you are my ,esther--but ,i1 no second tyrant1 ,worship whom you adore1 love whom you love6 ,,liebhaid4 ,if ,i must die with morn1 ,i thank my ,god1 ,and thee1 my king1 that ,i have lived this night4 ,enter ,,susskind1 carrying a jewelled casket4 ,,susskind4 ,here is the chest1 sealed with my signet-ring1 ,a mystery and a treasure lies within1 ,whose worth is faintly symboled by these gems1 ,starring the case4 ,deliver it unopened1 ,unto the ,landgrave4 ,now1 sweet ,prince1 good night4 ,else will the ,judengasse gates be closed4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,thanks1 father1 thanks4 ,liebhaid1 my bride1 good-night4 ,he kisses her brow4 ,,susskind places his hands on the heads of ,,liebhaid and ,,prince ,,william4 ,,susskind4 ,blessed1 ,o ,lord1 art thou1 who bringest joy ,to bride and bridegroom4 ,let us thank the ,lord4 ,curtain falls4 ,,act ,,ii4--,at ,eisenach4 ,,scene ,i4 ,a ,room in the ,,landgrave',s ,palace4 ,,frederick ,,the ,,grave and ,,henry ,,schnetzen4 ,,landgrave4 ,who tells thee of my son's love for the ,jewess8 ,,schnetzen4 ,who tells me8 ,ask the ,judengasse walls1 ,the garrulous stones publish ,prince ,william's visits ,to his fair mistress4 ,,landgrave4 ,mistress8 ,ah1 such sins ,the ,provost of ,st4 ,george's will remit ,for half a pound of coppers4 ,,schnetzen4 ,think it not6 ,no light amour this1 leaving shield unflecked2 ,he wooes the ,jewish damsel as a knight ,the lady of his heart4 ,,landgrave4 ,impossible6 ,,schnetzen4 ,things more impossible have chanced4 ,remember ,count ,gleichen1 doubly wived1 who pined in ,egypt1 ,there wed the ,pasha's daughter ,malachsala1 ,nor blushed to bring his heathen paramour ,home to his noble wife ,angelica1 ,countess of ,orlamund4 ,yea1 and the ,pope ,sanctioned the filthy sin4 ,,landgrave4 ,himself shall say it4 ,ho1 ,gunther6 7,enter a ,lackey47 ,bid the ,prince of ,meissen here4 ,exit ,lackey4 ,the ,,landgrave paces the stage in agitation4 ,enter ,,prince ,,william4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,father1 you called me8 ,,landgrave4 ,ay1 when were you last ,in ,nordhausen8 ,,prince ,,william4 ,this morning ,i rode hence4 ,,landgrave4 ,were you at ,susskind's house8 ,,prince ,,william4 ,i was1 my liege4 ,,landgrave4 ,i hear you entertain unseemly love ,for the ,jew's daughter4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,who has told thee this8 ,,schnetzen4 ,this ,i have told him4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,father1 believe him not4 ,i swear by heaven 't is no unseemly love ,leads me to ,susskind's house4 ,,landgrave4 ,with what high title ,please you to qualify it8 ,,prince ,,william4 ,true1 ,i love ,liebhaid von ,orb1 but 't is the honest passion ,wherewith a knight leads home his equal wife4 ,,landgrave4 ,great ,god6 and thou wilt brag thy shame6 ,thou speakest ,of wife and ,jewess in one breath6 ,wilt make ,thy princely name a stench in ,german nostrils8 ,,prince ,,william4 ,hold1 father1 hold6 ,you know her--yes1 a ,jewess ,in her domestic piety1 her soul ,large1 simple1 splendid like a star1 her heart ,suffused with ,syrian sunshine--but no more-- ,the aspect of a ,princess of ,thuringia1 ,swan-necked1 gold-haired1 ,madonna-eyed4 ,i love her6 ,if you will quench this passion1 take my life6 ,he falls at his father's feet4 ,,frederick1 in a paroxysm of rage1 seizes his sword4 ,,schnetzen4 ,he is your son6 ,,landgrave4 ,oh that he ne'er were born6 ,hola6 ,halberdiers6 ,yeomen of the ,guard6 ,enter ,guardsmen4 ,bear off this prisoner6 ,let him sigh out ,his blasphemous folly in the castle tower1 ,until his hair be snow1 his fingers claws4 ,they seize and bear away ,,prince ,,william4 ,well1 what's your counsel8 ,,schnetzen4 ,briefly this1 my lord4 ,the ,jews of ,nordhausen have brewed the ,prince ,a love-elixir--let them perish all6 ,tumult without4 ,singing of ,hymns and ,ringing of ,church-bells4 ,the ,,landgrave and ,,schnetzen go to the window4 ,,song99 7without74 ,the cruel pestilence arrives1 ,cuts off a myriad human lives4 ,see the ,flagellants' naked skin6 ,they scourge themselves for grievous sin4 ,trembles the earth beneath ,god's breath1 ,the ,jews shall all be burned to death4 99,a rhyme of the times4 ,see ,graetz's ,history of the ,jews1 page #cgd1 vol4 vii4 ,,landgrave4 ,look1 foreign pilgrims6 ,what an endless file6 ,naked waist-upward4 ,blood is trickling down ,their lacerated flesh4 ,what do they carry8 ,,schnetzen4 ,their scourges--iron-pointed1 leathern thongs1 ,mark how they lash themselves--the strict ,flagellants4 ,the ,brothers of the ,cross--hark to their cries6 ,,voice ,,from ,,below4 ,atone1 ye mighty6 ,god is wroth6 ,expel ,the enemies of heaven--raze their homes6 ,confused cries from below1 which gradually die away in the distance4 ,woe to ,god's enemies6 ,death to the ,jews6 ,they poison all our wells--they bring the plague4 ,kill them who killed our ,lord6 ,their homes shall be ,a wilderness--drown them in their own blood6 ,the ,,landgrave and ,,schnetzen withdraw from the window4 ,,schnetzen4 ,do not the people ask the same as ,i8 ,is not the people's voice the voice of ,god8 ,,landgrave4 ,i will consider4 ,,schnetzen4 ,not too long1 my liege4 ,the moment favors4 ,later 't were hard to show ,due cause to his ,imperial ,majesty1 ,for slaughtering the vassals of the ,crown4 ,two mighty friends are theirs4 ,his holiness ,clement the ,sixth and ,kaiser ,karl4 ,,landgrave4 ',t were rash ,contending with such odds4 ,,schnetzen4 ,courage1 my lord4 ,these battle singly against death and fate4 ,your allies are the sense and heart o' the world4 ,priests warring for their ,christ1 nobles for gold1 ,and peoples for the very breath of life ,spoiled by the poison-mixers4 ,kaiser ,karl ,lifts his lone voice unheard1 athwart the roar ,of such a flood2 the papal bull is whirled ,an unconsidered rag amidst the eddies4 ,,landgrave4 ,what credence lend you to the general rumor ,of the river poison8 ,,schnetzen4 ,such as mine eyes avouch4 ,i have seen1 yea touched the leathern wallet found ,on the body of one from whom the truth was wrenched ,by salutary torture4 ,he confessed1 ,though but a famulus of the master-wizard1 ,the horrible old ,moses of ,mayence1 ,he had flung such pouches in the ,rhine1 the ,elbe1 ,the ,oder1 ,danube--in a hundred brooks1 ,until the wholesome air reeked pestilence2 ',t was an ell long1 filled with a dry1 fine dust ,of rusty black and red1 deftly compounded ,of powdered flesh of basilisks1 spiders1 frogs1 ,and lizards1 baked with sacramental dough ,in ,christian blood4 ,,landgrave4 ,such goblin-tales may curdle ,the veins of priest-rid women1 fools1 and children4 ,they are not for the ears of sober men4 ,,schnetzen4 ,pardon me1 ,sire4 ,i am a simple soldier4 ,my ,god1 my conscience1 and my suzerain1 ,these are my guides--blindfold ,i follow them4 ,if your keen royal wit pierce the gross web ,of common superstition--be not wroth ,at your poor vassal's loyal ignorance4 ,remember1 too1 ,susskind retains your bonds4 ,the old fox will not press you2 he would bleed ,against the native instinct of the ,jew1 ,rather his last gold doit and so possess ,your ease of mind1 nag1 chafe1 and toy with it2 ,abide his natural death1 and other ,jews ,less devilish-cunning1 franklier ,hebrew-viced1 ,will claim redemption of your pledge4 ,,landgrave4 ,how know you ,that ,susskind holds my bonds8 ,,schnetzen4 ,you think the ,jews ,keep such things secret8 ,not a ,jew but knows ,your debt exact--the sum and date of interest1 ,and that you visit ,susskind1 not for love1 ,but for his shekels4 ,,landgrave4 ,well1 the ,jews shall die4 ,this is the will of ,god4 ,whom shall ,i send ,to bear my message to the council8 ,,schnetzen4 ,i ,am ever at your 'hest4 ,to-morrow morn ,sees me in ,nordhausen4 ,,landgrave4 ,come two hours hence4 ,i will deliver you the letter signed4 ,make ready for your ride4 ,,schnetzen 7kisses ,,frederick',s hand74 ,farewell1 my master4 7,aside47 ,ah1 vengeance cometh late1 ,susskind von ,orb1 ,but yet it comes6 ,my wife was burned through thee1 ,thou and thy children are consumed by me6 ,exit4 ,,scene ,,ii4 ,a ,room in the ,wartburg ,monastery4 ,,princess ,,mathildis and ,,prior ,,peppercorn4 ,,prior4 ,be comforted1 my daughter4 ,your lord's wisdom ,goes hand in hand with his known piety ,thus dealing with your son4 ,to love a ,jewess ,is flat contempt of ,heaven--to ask in marriage1 ,sheer spiritual suicide4 ,let be2 ,justice must take its course4 ,,princess4 ,justice is murdered2 ,oh slander not her corpse4 ,for my son's fault1 ,a thousand innocents are doomed4 ,is that ,god's justice8 ,,prior4 ,yea1 our liege is but his servant4 ,did not ,he purge with fiery hail those twain ,blotches of festering sin1 ,gomorrah1 ,sodom8 ,the ,jews are never innocent1--when ,christ ,agonized on the ,cross1 they cried--,his blood ,be on our children's heads and ours6 ,i mark ,a dangerous growing evil of these days1 ,pity1 misnamed--say1 criminal indulgence ,of reprobates brow-branded by the ,lord4 ,shall we excel the ,christ in charity8 ,because his law is love1 we tutor him ,in mercy and reward his murderers8 ,justice is blind and virtue is austere4 ,if the true passion brimmed our yearning hearts ,the vision of the agony would loom ,fixed vividly between the day and us3-- ,nailed on the gaunt black ,cross the divine form1 ,wax-white and dripping blood from ankles1 wrists1 ,the sacred ichor that redeems the world1 ,and crowded in strange shadow of eclipse1 ,reviling ,jews1 wagging their heads accursed1 ,sputtering blasphemy--who then would shrink ,from holy vengeance8 who would offer less ,heroic wrath and filial zeal to ,god ,than to a murdered father8 ,,princess4 ,but my son ,will die with her he loves4 ,,prior4 ,better to perish ,in time than in eternity4 ,no question ,pends here of individual life2 our sight ,must broaden to embrace the scope sublime ,of this trans-earthly theme4 ,the ,jew survives ,sword1 plague1 fire1 cataclysm--and must1 since ,christ ,cursed him to live till doomsday1 still to be ,a scarecrow to the nations4 ,none the less ,are we beholden in ,christ's name at whiles1 ,when maggot-wise ,jews breed1 infest1 infect ,communities of ,christians1 to wash clean ,the ,church's vesture1 shaking off the filth ,that gathers round her skirts4 ,a perilous germ6 ,know you not1 all the wells1 the very air ,the ,jews have poisoned8--,through their arts alone ,the ,black ,death scourges ,christendom4 ,,princess4 ,i know ,all heinousness imputed by their foes4 ,father1 mistake me not3 ,i urge no plea ,to shield this hell-spawn1 loathed by all who love ,the lamb and kiss the ,cross4 ,i had not guessed ,such obscure creatures crawled upon my path1 ,had not my son--,i know not how misled-- ,deigned to ennoble with his great regard1 ,a sparkle midst the dust motes4 ,,she is sacred4 ,what is her tribe to me8 ,her kith and kin ,may rot or roast--the ,jews of ,nordhausen ,may hang1 drown1 perish like the ,jews of ,france1 ,but she shall live--,liebhaid von ,orb1 the ,jewess1 ,the ,prince1 my son1 elects to love4 ,,prior4 ,amen6 ,washed in baptismal waters she shall be ,led like the clean-fleeced yeanling to the fold4 ,trust me1 my daughter--for through me the ,church ,which is the truth1 which is the life1 doth speak4 ,yet first 't were best essay to cure the ,prince ,of this moon-fostered madness1 bred1 no doubt1 ,by baneful potions which these cunning knaves ,are skilled to mix4 ,,princess4 ,go visit him1 dear father1 ,where in the high tower mewed1 a wing-clipped eagle1 ,his spirit breaks in cage4 ,you are his master1 ,he is wont from childhood to hear wisdom fall ,from your instructed lips4 ,tell him his mother ,rises not from her knees1 till he is freed4 ,,prior4 ,madam1 ,i go4 ,our holy ,church has healed ,far deadlier heart-wounds than a love-sick boy's4 ,be of good cheer1 the ,prince shall live to bless ,the father's rigor who kept pure of blot ,a 'scutcheon more unsullied than the sun4 ,,princess4 ,thanks and farewell4 ,,prior4 ,farewell4 ,god send thee peace6 ,exeunt4 ,,scene ,,iii4 ,a mean apartment in one of the ,towers of the ,landgrave's ,palace4 ,,prince ,,william discovered seated at the window4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,the slow sun sets2 with lingering1 large embrace ,he folds the enchanted hill2 then like a god ,strides into heaven behind the purple peak4 ,oh beautiful6 ,in the clear1 rayless air1 ,i see the chequered vale mapped far below1 ,the sky-paved streams1 the velvet pasture-slopes1 ,the grim1 gray cloister whose deep vesper bell ,blends at this height with tinkling1 homebound herds6 ,i see--but oh1 how far6--the blessed town ,where ,liebhaid dwells4 ,oh that ,i were yon star ,that pricks the ,west's unbroken foil of gold1 ,bright as an eye1 only to gaze on her6 ,how keen it sparkles o'er the ,venusburg6 ,when brown night falls and mists begin to live1 ,then will the phantom hunting-train emerge1 ,hounds straining1 black fire-eyeballed1 breathless steeds1 ,spurred by wild huntsmen1 and unhallowed nymphs1 ,and at their head the foam-begotten witch1 ,of soul-destroying beauty4 ,saints of heaven6 ,preserve mine eyes from such unholy sight6 ,how all unlike the base desire which leads ,misguided men to that infernal cave1 ,is the pure passion that exalts my soul ,like a religion6 ,yet ,christ pardon me ,if this be sin to thee6 ,he takes his lute1 and begins to sing4 ,enter with a lamp ,steward of the ,castle1 followed by ,,prior ,,peppercorn4 ,steward lays down the lamp and exit4 ,good even1 father6 ,,prior4 ,benedicite6 ,our bird makes merry his dull bars with song1 ,yet would not penitential psalms accord ,more fitly with your sin than minstrels' lays8 ,,prince ,,william4 ,i know no blot upon my life's fair record4 ,,prior4 ,what is it to wanton with a ,christ-cursed ,jewess1 ,defy thy father and pollute thy name1 ,and fling to the ordures thine immortal soul8 ,,prince ,,william4 ,forbear6 thy cowl's a helmet1 thy serge frock ,invulnerable as brass--yet ,i am human1 ,thou1 priest1 art still a man4 ,,prior4 ,pity him1 ,heaven6 ,to what a pass their draughts have brought the mildest1 ,noblest of princes6 ,softly1 my son2 be ruled ,by me1 thy spiritual friend and father4 ,thou hast been drugged with sense-deranging potions1 ,thy blood set boiling and thy brain askew2 ,when these thick fumes subside1 thou shalt awake ,to bless the friend who gave thy madness bounds4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,madness6 ,yea1 as the sane world goes1 ,i am mad4 ,what else to help the helpless1 to uplift ,the low1 to adore the good1 the beautiful1 ,to live1 battle1 suffer1 die for truth1 for love6 ,but that is wide of the question4 ,let me hear ,what you are charged to impart--my father's will4 ,,prior4 ,heart-cleft by his dear offspring's shame1 he prays ,your reason be restored1 your wayward sense ,renew its due allegiance4 ,for his son ,he1 the good parent1 weeps--hot drops of gall1 ,wrung from a spirit seldom eased by tears4 ,but for his honor pricked1 the ,landgrave takes ,more just and general vengeance4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,in the name of ,god1 ,what has he done to ,,her8 ,,prior4 ,naught1 naught1--as yet4 ,sweet ,prince1 be calm2 you leap like flax to flame4 ,you nest within your heart a cockatrice1 ,pluck it from out your bosom and breathe pure ,of the filthy egg4 ,the ,landgrave brooks no more ,the abomination that infects his town4 ,the ,jews of ,nordhausen are doomed4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,alack6 ,who and how many of that harmless tribe1 ,those meek and pious men1 have been elected ,to glut with innocent blood the oppressor's wrath8 ,,prior4 ,who should go free where equal guilt is shared8 ,frederick is just--they perish all at once1 ,generous moreover--for in their mode of death ,he grants them choice4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,my father had not lost ,the human semblance when ,i saw him last4 ,nor can he be divorced in this short space ,from his shrewd wit4 ,how shall he make provision ,for the vast widowed1 orphaned host this deed ,burdens the state withal8 ,,prior4 ,oh excellent6 ,this is the crown of folly1 topping all6 ,forgive me1 ,prince1 when ,i gain breath to point ,your comic blunder1 you will laugh with me4 ,patience--,i'll draw my chin as long as yours4 ,well1 't was my fault--one should be accurate-- ,jews1 said ,i8 when ,i meant ,jews1 ,jewesses1 ,and ,jewlings6 all betwixt the age ,of twenty-four hours1 and of five score years4 ,of either sex1 of every known degree1 ,all the contaminating vermin purged ,with one clean1 searching blast of wholesome fire4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,o ,christ1 disgraced1 insulted6 ,horrible man1 ,remembered be your laugh in lowest hell1 ,dragging you to the nether pit6 ,forgive me2 ,you are my friend--take me from here--unbolt ,those iron doors--,i'll crawl upon my knees ,unto my father--,i have much to tell him4 ,for but the freedom of one hour1 sweet ,prior1 ,i'll brim the vessels of the ,church with gold4 ,,prior4 ,boy6 your bribes touch not1 nor your curses shake ,the minister of ,christ4 ,yet ,i will bear ,your message to the ,landgrave4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,whet your tongue ,keen as the archangel's blade of truth--your voice ,be as ,god's thunder1 and your heart one blaze-- ,then can you speak my cause4 ,with me1 it needs ,no plausive gift2 the smitten head1 stopped throat1 ,blind eyes and silent suppliance of sorrow ,persuade beyond all eloquence4 ,great ,god6 ,here while ,i rage and beat against my bars1 ,the infernal fagots may be stacked for her1 ,the hell-spark kindled4 ,go to him1 dear ,prior1 ,speak to him gently1 be not too much moved1 ',neath its rude case you had ever a soft heart1 ,and he is stirred by mildness more than passion4 ,recall to him her round1 clear1 ardent eyes1 ,the shower of sunshine that's her hair1 the sheen ,of the cream-white flesh--shall these things serve as fuel8 ,tell him that when she heard once he was wounded1 ,and how he bled and anguished2 at the tale ,she wept for pity4 ,,prior4 ,if her love be true ,she will adore her lover's ,god1 embrace ,the faith that marries you in life and death4 ,this promise with the ,landgrave would prevail ,more than all sobs and pleadings4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,save her1 save her6 ,if any promise1 vow1 or oath can serve4 ,oh trusting1 tranquil ,susskind1 who estopped ,your ears forewarned1 bandaged your visioned eyes1 ,to woo destruction6 ,stay6 did he not speak ,of amulet or talisman8 ,these horrors ,have crowded out my wits4 ,yea1 the gold casket6 ,what fixed serenity beamed from his brow1 ,laying the precious box within my hands6 ,he brings from the shelf the casket1 and hands it to the ,prior4 ,deliver this unto the ,prince my father1 ,nor lose one vital moment4 ,what it holds1 ,i guess not--but my light heart whispers me ,the jewel safety's locked beneath its lid4 ,,prior4 ,first ,i must foil such devil's tricks as lurk ,in its gem-crusted cabinet4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,away6 ,deliverance posts on your return4 ,i feel it4 ,for your much comfort thanks4 ,good-night4 ,,prior4 ,good-night4 ,exit4 ,,act ,,iii4 ,a cell in the ,wartburg ,monastery4 ,enter ,,prior ,,peppercorn with the casket4 ,,prior4 ,so6 ,glittering shell where doubtless shines concealed ,an orient treasure fit to bribe a king1 ,ransom a prince and buy him for a son4 ,i have baptized thee now before the altar1 ,effaced the ,jew's contaminating touch1 ,and ,i am free to claim the ,church's tithe ,from thy receptacle4 ,he is about to unlock the casket1 when enters ,lay-,brother1 and he hastily conceals it4 ,,lay-,,brother4 ,peace be thine1 father6 ,,prior4 ,amen6 and thine4 ,what's new8 ,,lay-,,brother4 ,a strange ,flagellant ,fresh come to ,wartburg craves a word with thee4 ,,prior4 ,bid him within4 ,exit ,lay-,brother4 ,,prior places the casket in a ,cabinet4 ,patience6 ,no hour of the day ,brings freedom to the priest4 ,reenter ,lay-,brother ushering in ,,nordmann1 and exit4 ,brother1 all hail6 ,blessed be thou who comest in ,god's name6 ,,nordmann4 ,may the ,lord grant thee thine own prayer fourfold6 ,,prior4 ,what is thine errand8 ,,nordmann4 ,look at me1 my father4 ,long since you called me friend4 ,the ,,prior looks at him attentively1 while an expression of wonder and terror gradually overspreads his face4 ,,prior4 ,almighty ,god6 ,the grave gives up her dead4 ,thou canst not be-- ,,nordmann4 ,nordmann of ,nordmannstein1 the ,knight of ,treffurt4 ,,prior4 ,he was beheaded years agone4 ,,nordmann4 ,his death ,had been decreed1 but in his stead a squire ,clad in his garb and masked1 paid bloody forfeit4 ,a loyal wretch on whom the ,prince wreaked vengeance1 ,rather than publish the true bird had flown4 ,,prior4 ,does ,frederick know thou art in ,eisenach8 ,,nordmann4 ,who would divine the ,knight of ,nordmannstein ,in the ,flagellants' weeds8 ,from land to land1 ,from town to town1 we cry1 ,death to the ,jews6 ,hep6 hep6 ,hierosolyma est perdita6 ,they die like rats2 in ,gotha they are burned2 ,two of the devil brutes in ,chatelard1 ,child-murderers1 wizards1 breeders of the ,plague1 ,had the truth squeezed from them with screws and racks1 ,all with explicit date1 place1 circumstance1 ,and written as it fell from dying lips ,by scriveners of the law4 ,on their confession ,the ,jews of ,savoy were destroyed4 ,to-morrow noon ,the holy flames shall dance in ,nordhausen4 ,,prior4 ,your zeal bespeaks you fair4 ,in your deep eyes ,a mystic fervor shines2 yet your scarred flesh ,and shrunken limbs denote exhausted nature1 ,collapsing under discipline4 ,,nordmann4 ,speak not ,of the degrading body and its pangs4 ,i am all zeal1 all energy1 all spirit4 ,jesus was wroth at me1 at all the world1 ,for our indulgence of the flesh1 our base ,compounding with his enemies the ,jews4 ,but at ,madonna ,mary's intercession1 ,he charged an angel with this gracious word1 ,whoso will scourge himself for forty days1 ,and labor towards the clean extermination ,of earth's corrupting vermin1 shall be saved4 ,oh1 what vast peace this message brought my soul6 ,i have learned to love the ecstasy of pain4 ,when the sweat stands upon my flesh1 the blood ,throbs in my bursting veins1 my twisted muscles ,are cramped with agony1 ,i seem to crawl ,anigh his feet who suffered on the ,cross4 ,,prior4 ,o all transforming ,time6 ,can this be he1 ,the iron warrior of a decade since1 ,the gallant youth of earlier years1 whose pranks ,and reckless buoyancy of temper flashed ,clear sunshine through my gloom8 ,,nordmann4 ,i am unchanged 7,save that the spirit of grace has fallen on me74 ,urged by one motive through these banished years1 ,fed by one hope1 awake to realize ,one living dream--my long delayed revenge4 ,you saw the day when ,henry ,schnetzen's castle ,was razed with fire8 ,,prior4 ,i saw it4 ,,nordmann4 ,schnetzen's wife1 ,three days a mother1 perished4 ,,prior4 ,and his child8 ,,nordmann4 ,his child was saved4 ,,prior4 ,by whom8 ,,nordmann4 ,by the same ,jew ,who had betrayed the ,castle4 ,,prior4 ,susskind von ,orb8 ,,nordmann4 ,susskind von ,orb6 and ,schnetzen's daughter lives ,as the ,jew's child within the ,judengasse4 ,,prior 7eagerly74 ,what proof hast thou of this8 ,,nordmann4 ,proof of these eyes6 ,i visited von ,orb to ask a loan4 ,there saw ,i such a maiden as no ,jew ,was ever blessed withal since ,jesus died4 ,white as a dove1 with hair like golden floss1 ,eyes like an ,alpine lake4 ,the haughty line ,of brow imperial1 high bridged nose1 fine chin1 ,seemed like the shadow cast upon the wall1 ,where ,lady ,schnetzen stood4 ,,prior4 ,why hast thou ne'er ,discovered her to ,schnetzen8 ,,nordmann4 ,he was my friend4 ,i shared with him thirst1 hunger1 sword1 and fire4 ,but he became a courtier4 ,when the ,margrave ,sent me his second challenge to the field1 ,his messenger was ,schnetzen6 ',mongst his knights1 ,the apple of his eye was ,henry ,schnetzen4 ,he was the hound that hunted me to death4 ,he stood by ,frederick's side when ,i was led1 ,bound1 to the presence4 ,i denounced him coward1 ,he smote me on the cheek4 ,christ6 it stings yet4 ,he hissed--,my liege1 let ,henry ,nordmann hang6 ,he is no knight1 for he receives a blow1 ,nor dare avenge it6 ,my gyved wrists moved not1 ,no nerve twitched in my face1 although ,i felt ,flame leap there from my heart1 then flying back1 ,leave it cold-bathed with deathly ooze--my soul ,in silence took her supreme vow of hate4 ,,prior4 ,praise be to ,god that thou hast come to-day4 ,to-morrow were too late4 ,hast thou not heard ,frederick sends ,schnetzen unto ,nordhausen1 ,with fire and torture for the ,jews8 ,,nordmann4 ,so6 ,henry ,schnetzen ,shall be the ,jews' destroyer8 ,ah6 ,,prior4 ,one moment4 ,mayhap this box which ,susskind sends the ,prince ,reveals more wonders4 ,he brings forth the ,casket from the ,cabinet1 opens it1 and discovers a golden cross and a parchment which he hastily overlooks4 ,hark6 your word's confirmed ,blessed be ,christ1 our ,lord6 7reads74 ,i ,susskind von ,orb of ,nordhausen1 swear by the unutterable ,name1 that on the day when the ,castle of ,salza was burned1 ,i rescued the infant daughter of ,henry ,schnetzen from the flames4 ,i purposed restoring her to her father1 but when ,i returned to ,nordhausen1 ,i found my own child lying on her bier1 and my wife in fevered frenzy calling for her babe4 ,i sought the leech1 who counselled me to show the ,christian child to the bereaved mother as her own4 ,the pious trick prevailed2 the fever broke1 the mother was restored4 ,but never would she part with the child1 even when she had learned to whom it belonged1 and until she was gathered with the dead--may peace be with her soul6--she fostered in our ,jewish home the offspring of the ,gentile knight4 ,then again would ,i have yielded the girl to her parent1 but ,schnetzen was my foe1 and ,i feared the haughty baron would disown the daughter who came from the hands of the ,jew4 ,now however the maiden's temporal happiness demands that she be acknowledged by her rightful father4 ,let him see what ,i have written4 ,as a token1 behold this golden cross1 bound by the ,lady ,schnetzen round the infant's neck4 ,may the ,god of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob redeem and bless me as ,i have writ the truth4 ,,prior4 ,i thank the ,saints that this has come betimes4 ,thou shalt renounce thy hate4 ,vengeance is mine1 ,the ,lord hath said4 ,,nordmann4 ,o all-transforming ,time6 ,is this meek1 saintly-hypocrite1 the firm1 ,ambitious1 resolute ,reinhard ,peppercorn1 ,terror of ,jews and beacon of the ,church8 ,look1 you1 ,i have won the special grace of ,christ1 ,he knows through what fierce anguish6 ,now he leans ,out of his heaven to whisper in mine ear1 ,and reach me my revenge4 ,he makes my cause ,his own--and ,i shall fail upon these heights1 ,sink from the level of a hate sublime1 ,to puerile pity6 ,,prior4 ,be advised4 ,you hold ,your enemy's living heart within your hands4 ,this secret is far costlier than you dreamed1 ,for ,frederick's son wooes ,schnetzen's daughter4 ,see1 ,a hundred delicate springs your wit may move1 ,your puppets are the ,landgrave and the ,prince1 ,the ,governor of ,salza and the ,jews4 ,you may recover station1 wealth1 and honor1 ,selling your secret shrewdly2 while rash greed ,of clumsy vengeance may but drag you down ,in the wild whirl of universal ruin4 ,,nordmann4 ,christ teach me whom to trust6 ,i would not spill ,one drop from out this brimming glorious cup ,for which my parched heart pants4 ,i will consider4 ,,prior4 ,pardon me now1 if ,i break off our talk4 ,let all rest as it stands until the dawn4 ,i have many orisons before the light4 ,,nordmann4 ,good-night1 true friend4 ,devote a prayer to me4 7,aside47 ,i will outwit you1 serpent1 though you glide ,athwart the dark1 noiseless and swift as fate4 ,exit4 ,,scene ,,ii4 ,on the road to ,nordhausen4 ,moonlit1 rocky landscape4 ,on the right between high1 white cliffs a narrow stream spanned by a wooden bridge4 ,thick bushes and trees4 ,enter ,,prince ,,william and ,,page4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,is this the place where we shall find fresh steeds8 ,would ,i had not dismounted6 ,,page4 ,nay1 sir2 beyond ,the ,werra bridge the horses wait for us4 ,these rotten planks would never bear their weight4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,when ,i am ,landgrave these things shall be cared for4 ,this is an ugly spot for travellers ,to loiter in4 ,how swift the water runs1 ,brawling above our voices4 ,human cries ,would never reach ,liborius' convent yonder1 ,perched on the sheer1 chalk cliff4 ,i think of peril1 ,from my excess of joy4 ,my spirit chafes1 ,she that would breast broad-winged the air1 must halt ,on stumbling mortal limbs4 ,look1 thither1 boy1 ,how the black shadows of the tree-boles stripe ,the moon-blanched bridge and meadow4 ,,page4 ,sir1 what's that8 ,yon stir and glitter in the bush8 ,,prince ,,william4 ,the moon1 ,pricking the dewdrops1 plays fantastic tricks ,with objects most familiar4 ,look again1 ,and where thou sawst the steel-blue flicker glint1 ,thou findst a black1 wet leaf4 ,,page4 ,no1 no6 ,o ,god6 ,your sword1 sir6 ,treason6 ,four armed masked men leap from out the bush1 seize1 bind1 and overmaster1 after a brief but violent resistance1 the ,prince and his servant4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,who are ye1 villains8 lying ,in murderous ambush for the ,prince of ,meissen8 ,if you be knights1 speak honorably your names1 ,and ,i will combat you in knightly wise4 ,if ye be robbers1 name forthwith your ransom4 ,let me but speed upon my journey now4 ,by ,christ's blood6 ,i beseech you1 let me go6 ,ho6 treason6 murder6 help6 ,he is dragged off struggling4 ,exeunt omnes4 ,,scene ,,iii4 ,nordhausen4 ,a room in ,,susskind's house4 ,,liebhaid and ,,claire4 ,,liebhaid4 ,say on1 poor girl1 if but to speak these horrors ,revive not too intense a pang4 ,,claire4 ,not so4 ,for all my woes seem here to merge their flood ,into a sea of infinite repose4 ,through ,france our journey led1 as ,i have told1 ,from desolation unto desolation4 ,naught stayed my father's course--sword1 storm1 flame1 plague1 ,exhaustion of the eighty year old frame1 ,o'ertaxed beyond endurance4 ,once1 once only1 ,his divine force succumbed4 ',t was at day's close1 ,and all the air was one discouragement ,of ,april snow-flakes4 ,i was drenched1 cold1 sick1 ,with weariness and hunger light of head1 ,and on the open road1 suddenly turned ,the whole world like the spinning flakes of snow4 ,my numb hand slipped from his1 and all was blank4 ,his beard1 his breath upon my brow1 his tears ,scalding my cheek hugged close against his breast1 ,and in my ear deep groans awoke me4 ,god6 ,i heard him cry1 try me not past my strength4 ,no prophet ,i1 a blind1 old dying man6 ,gently ,i drew his face to mine1 and kissed1 ,whispering courage--then his spirit broke ,utterly2 shattered were his wits1 ,i feared4 ,but past is past2 he is at peace1 and ,i ,find shelter from the tempest4 ,tell me rather ,of your serene life4 ,,liebhaid4 ,happiness is mute4 ,what record speaks of placid1 golden days1 ,matched each with each as twins8 ,till yester eve ,my life was simple as a song4 ,at whiles ,dark tales have reached us of our people's wrongs1 ,strange1 far-off anguish1 furrowing with fresh care ,my father's brow1 draping our home with gloom4 ,we were still blessed2 the ,landgrave is his friend-- ,the ,prince--my ,prince--dear ,claire1 ask me no more6 ,my adored enemy1 my angel-fiend1 ,splitting my heart against my heart6 ,o ,god1 ,how shall ,i pray for strength to love him less ,than mine own soul8 ,,claire4 ,what mean these contrary words8 ,these passionate tears8 ,,liebhaid4 ,brave girl1 who art inured ,to difficult privation and rude pain1 ,what good shall come forswearing kith and ,god1 ,to follow the allurements of the heart8 ,,claire4 ,duty wears one face1 but a thousand masks4 ,thy feet she leads to glittering peaks1 while mine ,she guides midst brambled roadways4 ,not the first ,art thou of ,israel's women1 chosen of ,god1 ,to rule o'er rulers4 ,i remember me ,a verse my father often would repeat ,out of our sacred ,talmud3 ,every time ,the sun1 moon1 stars begin again their course1 ,they hesitate1 trembling and filled with shame1 ,blush at the blasphemous worship offered them1 ,and each time ,god's voice thunders1 crying out1 ,on with your duty6 ,enter ,,reuben4 ,,reuben4 ,sister1 we are lost6 ,the streets are thronged with panic-stricken folk4 ,wild rumors fill the air4 ,two of our tribe1 ,young ,mordecai1 as ,i hear1 and old ,baruch1 ,seized by the mob1 were dragged towards ,eisenach1 ,cruelly used1 left to bleed out their lives1 ,in the wayside ditch at night4 ,this morn1 betimes1 ,the iron-hearted ,governor of ,salza ,rides furious into ,nordhausen2 his horse1 ,spurred past endurance1 drops before the gate4 ,the ,council has been called to hear him read ,the ,landgrave's message1--all men say1 'tis death ,unto our race4 ,,liebhaid4 ,where is our father1 ,reuben8 ,,reuben4 ,with ,rabbi ,jacob4 ,through the streets they walk1 ,striving to quell the terror4 ,ah1 too late6 ,had he but heeded the prophetic voice1 ,this warning angel led to us in vain6 ,,liebhaid4 ,brother1 be calm4 ,man your young heart to front ,whatever ills the ,lord afflicts us with4 ,what does ,prince ,william8 ,hastes he not to aid8 ,,reuben4 ,none know his whereabouts4 ,some say he's held ,imprisoned by the ,landgrave4 ,others tell ,while he was posting with deliverance ,to ,nordhausen1 in bloody ,schnetzen's wake1 ,he was set upon by ruffians--kidnapped--killed4 ,what do ,i know--hid till our ruin's wrought4 ,,liebhaid swoons4 ,,claire4 ,hush1 foolish boy4 ,see how your rude words hurt4 ,look up1 sweet girl2 take comfort4 ,,reuben4 ,pluck up heart3 ,dear sister1 pardon me2 he lives1 he lives6 ,,liebhaid4 ,god help me6 ,shall my heart crack for love's loss ,that meekly bears my people's martyrdom8 ,he lives--,i feel it--to live or die with me4 ,i love him as my soul--no more of that4 ,i am all ,israel's now--till this cloud pass1 ,i have no thought1 no passion1 no desire1 ,save for my people4 ,enter ,,susskind4 ,,susskind4 ,blessed art thou1 my child6 ,this is the darkest hour before the dawn4 ,thou art the morning-star of ,israel4 ,how dear thou art to me--heart of my heart1 ,mine1 mine1 all mine to-day6 the pious thought1 ,the orient spirit mine1 the ,jewish soul4 ,the glowing veins that sucked life-nourishment ,from ,hebrew mother's milk4 ,look at me1 ,liebhaid1 ,tell me you love me4 ,pity me1 my ,god6 ,no fiercer pang than this did ,jephthah know4 ,,liebhaid4 ,father1 what wild and wandering words are these8 ,is all hope lost8 ,,susskind4 ,nay1 ,god is good to us4 ,i am so well assured the town is safe1 ,that ,i can weep my private loss--of thee4 ,an ugly dream ,i had1 quits not my sense1 ,that you1 made ,princess of ,thuringia1 ,forsook your father1 and forswore your race4 ,forgive me1 ,liebhaid1 ,i am calm again1 ,we must be brave--,i who besought my tribe ,to bide their fate in ,nordhausen1 and you ,whom ,god elects for a peculiar lot4 ,with many have ,i talked2 some crouched at home1 ,some wringing hands about the public ways4 ,i gave all comfort4 ,i am very weary4 ,my children1 we had best go in and pray1 ,solace and safety dwell but in the ,lord4 ,exeunt4 ,,act ,,iv4 ,,scene ,i4 ,the ,city ,hall at ,nordhausen4 ,deputies and ,burghers assembling4 ,to the right1 at a table near the ,president's chair1 is seated the ,public ,scrivener4 ,enter ,,dietrich ,,von ,,tettenborn1 and ,,henry ,,schnetzen with an open letter in his hand4 ,,schnetzen4 ,didst hear the fellow's words who handed it8 ,i asked from whom it came1 he spoke by rote1 ,the pepper bites1 the corn is ripe for harvest1 ,i come from ,eisenach4 ',t is some tedious jest4 ,,tettenborn4 ,doubtless your shrewd friend ,prior ,peppercorn ,masks here some warning4 ,ask the scrivener ,to help us to its contents4 ,,schnetzen 7to the clerk74 ,read me these4 ,,scrivener 7reads74 ,beware1 ,lord ,henry ,schnetzen1 of ,susskind's lying tongue6 ,he will thrust a cuckoo's egg into your nest4 ,signed ,,one ,,who ,,knows4 ,,schnetzen4 ,a cuckoo's egg6 that riddle puzzles me2 ,but this ,i know4 ,schnetzen is no man's dupe1 ,much less a ,jew's4 ,,schnetzen and ,,von ,,tettenborn take their seats side by side4 ,,tettenborn4 ,knights1 counsellors and burghers6 ,sir ,henry ,schnetzen1 ,governor of ,salza1 ,comes on grave mission from ,his ,highness ,frederick1 ,margrave of ,meissen1 ,landgrave of ,thuringia1 ,our town's imperial ,patron and ,protector4 ,,schnetzen4 ,gentles1 ,i greet you in the ,landgrave's name1 ,the honored bearer of his princely script1 ,sealed with his signet4 ,read1 good ,master ,clerk4 ,he hands a parchment to the ,scrivener1 who reads aloud3 ,lord ,president and ,deputies of the town of ,nordhausen6 ,know that we1 ,frederick ,margrave of ,meissen1 and ,landgrave of ,thuringia1 command to be burned all the ,jews within our territories as far as our lands extend1 on account of the great crime they have committed against ,christendom in throwing poison into the wells1 of the truth of which indictment we have absolute knowledge4 ,therefore we admonish you to have the ,jews killed in honor of ,god1 so that ,christendom be not enfeebled by them4 ,whatever responsibility you incur1 we will assume with our ,lord the ,emperor1 and with all other lords4 ,know also that we send to you ,henry ,schnetzen1 our ,governor of ,salza1 who shall publicly accuse your ,jews of the above-mentioned crime4 ,therefore we beseech you to help him to do justice upon them1 and we will singularly reward your good will499 ,given at ,eisenach1 the ,thursday after ,st4 ,walpurgis1 under our secret seal4 99,this is an authentic document4 ,a ,,counsellor 7,,diether ,,von ,,werther74 ,fit silence welcomes this unheard-of wrong6 ,so6 ,ye are men--free1 upright1 honest men1 ,not hired assassins8 ,i half doubted it1 ,seeing you lend these infamous words your ears4 ,,schnetzen4 ,consider1 gentlemen of ,nordhausen1 ,ere ye give heed to the rash partisan4 ,ye cross the ,landgrave--well8 he crosses you4 ,it may be ,i shall ride to ,nordhausen1 ,not with a harmless script1 but with a sword1 ,and so denounce the town for perjured vow4 ,what was the ,strasburg citizens' reward ,who championed these lost wretches1 in the face ,of ,king and ,kaiser--three against the world1 ,conrad von ,winterthur the ,burgomaster1 ,deputy ,gosse ,sturm1 and ,peter ,schwarber1 ,master ,mechanic8 ,these leagued fools essayed ,to stand between the people's sacred wrath1 ,and its doomed object4 ,well1 the ,jews1 no less1 ,were rooted from the city neck and crop1 ,and their three friends degraded from their rank ,i' the city council1 glad to save their skins4 ,the ,jews are foes to ,god4 ,our ,holy ,father ,thunders his ban from ,rome against all such ,as aid the poisoners4 ,your oath to ,god1 ,and to the ,prince enjoins--,death to the ,jews4 ,a ,,burgher 7,,reinhard ,,rolapp74 ,why all this vain debate8 ,the ,landgrave's brief ,affirms the ,jews fling poison in the wells4 ,shall we stand by and leave them unmolested1 ,till they have made our town a wilderness8 ,i say1 ,death to the ,jews6 ,a ,,burgher 7,,hugo ,,schultz74 ,my lord and brethren1 ,i have scant gift of speech1 ye are all my elders4 ,yet hear me for truth's sake1 and liberty's4 ,the ,landgrave of ,thuringia is our patron1 ,true--and our town's imperial ,governor1 ,but are we not free burghers8 ,shall we not ,debate and act in freedom8 ,if ,lord ,schnetzen ,will force our council with the sword--enough6 ,we are not frightened schoolboys crouched beneath ,the master's rod1 but men who bear the sword ,as brave as he4 ,by this grim messenger1 ,send back this devilish missive4 ,say to ,frederick ,nordhausen never was enfeoffed to him4 ,prithee1 ,lord ,president1 bid ,henry ,schnetzen ,withdraw awhile1 that we may all take counsel1 ,according to the hour's necessity1 ,as free men1 whom nor fear nor favor swerves4 ,,tettenborn4 ,bold youth1 you err4 ,true1 ,nordhausen is free1 ,and ,god be witness1 we for fear or favor1 ,would never shed the blood of innocence4 ,but here the ,prince condemns the ,jews to death ,for capital crime4 ,who sees a snake must kill1 ,ere it spit fatal venom4 ,i1 too1 say ,death to the ,jews ,,all4 ,death to the ,jews6 ,god wills it6 ,,tettenborn4 ,give me your voices in the urn4 7,the votes are taken47 ,one voice ,for mercy1 all the rest for death4 7,to an ,usher47 ,go thou ,to the ,jews' quarter2 bid ,susskind von ,orb1 ,and ,rabbi ,jacob hither to the ,senate1 ,to hear the ,landgrave's and the town's decree4 ,exit ,usher4 7,to ,schnetzen47 ,what learn you of this evil through the ,state8 ,,schnetzen4 ,it swells to monstrous bulk4 ,in many towns1 ,folk build high ramparts round the wells and springs4 ,in some they shun the treacherous sparkling brooks1 ,to drink dull rain-water1 or melted snow1 ,in mountain districts4 ,frederick has been patient1 ,and too long clement1 duped by fleece-cloaked wolves4 ,but now his subjects' clamor rouses him ,to front the general peril4 ,as ,i hear1 ,a fiendish and far-reaching plot involves ,all ,christian thrones and peoples4 ,these vile vermin1 ,burrowing underneath society1 ,have leagued with ,moors in ,spain1 with heretics ,too plentiful--,christ knows6 in every land1 ,and planned a subterraneous1 sinuous scheme1 ,to overthrow all ,christendom4 ,but see1 ,where with audacious brows1 and steadfast mien1 ,they enter1 bold as innocence4 ,now listen1 ,for we shall hear brave falsehoods4 ,enter ,,susskind ,,von ,,orb and ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,,tettenborn4 ,rabbi ,jacob1 ,and thou1 ,susskind von ,orb1 bow down1 and learn ,the ,council's pleasure4 ,you the least despised ,by true believers1 and most reverenced ,by your own tribe1 we grace with our free leave ,to enter1 yea1 to lift your voices here1 ,amid these wise and honorable men1 ,if ye find aught to plead1 that mitigates ,the just severity of your doom4 ,our prince1 ,frederick the ,grave1 ,patron of ,nordhausen1 ,ordains that all the ,jews within his lands1 ,for the foul crime of poisoning the wells1 ,bringing the ,black ,death upon ,christendom1 ,shall be consumed with flame4 ,,rabbi ,,jacob 7springing forward and clasping his hands74 ,i' the name of ,god1 ,your ,god and ours1 have mercy6 ,,susskind4 ,noble lords1 ,burghers1 and artisans of ,nordhausen1 ,wise1 honorable1 just1 ,god-fearing men1 ,shall ye condemn or ever ye have heard8 ,sure1 one at least owns here the close1 kind name ,of ,brother--unto him ,i turn4 ,at least ,some sit among you who have wedded wives1 ,bear the dear title and the precious charge ,of ,husband--unto these ,i speak4 ,some here1 ,are crowned1 it may be1 with the sacred name ,of ,father--unto these ,i pray4 ,all1 all ,are sons--all have been children1 all have known ,the love of parents--unto these ,i cry3 ,have mercy on us1 we are innocent1 ,who are brothers1 husbands1 fathers1 sons as ye6 ,look you1 we have dwelt among you many years1 ,led thrifty1 peaceable1 well-ordered lives4 ,who can attest1 who prove we ever wrought ,or ever did devise the smallest harm1 ,far less this fiendish crime against the ,state8 ,rather let those arise who owe the ,jews ,some debt of unpaid kindness1 profuse alms1 ,the ,hebrew leech's serviceable skill1 ,who know our patience under injury1 ,and ye would see1 if all stood bravely forth1 ,a motley host1 led by the ,landgrave's self1 ,recruited from all ranks1 and in the rear1 ,the humblest1 veriest wretch in ,nordhausen4 ,we know the ,black ,death is a scourge of ,god4 ,is not our flesh as capable of pain1 ,our blood as quick envenomed as your own8 ,has the ,destroying ,angel passed the posts ,of ,jewish doors--to visit ,christian homes8 ,we all are slaves of one tremendous ,hour4 ,we drink the waters which our enemies say ,we spoil with poison1--we must breathe1 as ye1 ,the universal air1--we droop1 faint1 sicken1 ,from the same causes to the selfsame end4 ,ye are not strangers to me1 though ye wear ,grim masks to-day--lords1 knights and citizens1 ,few do ,i see whose hand has pressed not mine1 ,in cordial greeting4 ,dietrich von ,tettenborn1 ,if at my death my wealth be confiscate ,unto the ,state1 bethink you1 lest she prove ,a harsher creditor than ,i have been4 ,stout ,meister ,rolapp1 may you never again ,languish so nigh to death that ,simon's art ,be needed to restore your lusty limbs4 ,good ,hugo ,schultz--ah6 be those blessed tears ,remembered unto you in ,paradise6 ,look there1 my lords1 one of your council weeps1 ,if you be men1 why1 then an angel sits ,on yonder bench4 ,you have good cause to weep1 ,you who are ,christian1 and disgraced in that ,whereof you made your boast4 ,i have no tears4 ,a fiery wrath has scorched their source1 a voice ,shrills through my brain--,not upon us1 on them ,fall everlasting woe1 if this thing be6 ,,schnetzen4 ,my lords of ,nordhausen1 shall ye be stunned ,with sounding words8 ,behold the serpent's skin1 ,sleek-shining1 clear as sunlight2 yet his tooth ,holds deadly poison4 ,even as the ,jews ,did nail the ,lord of heaven on the ,cross1 ,so will they murder all his followers1 ,when once they have the might4 ,beware1 beware6 ,,susskind4 ,so ,,you are the accuser1 my lord ,schnetzen8 ,now ,i confess1 before you ,i am guilty4 ,you are in all this presence1 the one man ,whom any ,jew hath wronged--and ,i that ,jew4 ,oh1 my offence is grievous2 punish me ,with the utmost rigor of the law1 for theft ,and violence1 whom ye deemed an honest man1 ,but leave my tribe unharmed6 ,i yield my hands ,unto your chains1 my body to your fires2 ,let one life serve for all4 ,,schnetzen4 ,you hear1 my lords1 ,how the prevaricating villain shrinks ,from the absolute truth1 yet dares not front his ,maker ,with the full damnable lie hot on his lips4 ,not thou alone1 my private foe1 shalt die1 ,but all thy race4 ,thee had my vengeance reached1 ,without appeal to ,prince or citizen4 ,silence6 my heart is cuirassed as my breast4 ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,bear with us1 gracious lords6 ,my friend is stunned4 ,he is an honest man4 ,even ,i1 as 't were1 ,am stupefied by this surprising news4 ,yet1 let me think--it seems it is not new1 ,this is an ancient1 well-remembered pain4 ,what1 brother1 came not one who prophesied ,this should betide exactly as it doth8 ,that was a shrewd old man6 ,your pardon1 lords1 ,i think you know not just what you would do4 ,you say the ,jews shall burn--shall burn you say2 ,why1 good my lords1 the ,jews are not a flock ,of gallows-birds1 they are a colony ,of kindly1 virtuous folk4 ,come home with me2 ,i'll show you happy hearths1 glad roofs1 pure lives4 ,why1 some of them are little quick-eyed boys1 ,some1 pretty1 ungrown maidens--children's children ,of those who called me to the pastorate4 ,and some are beautiful tall girls1 some1 youths ,of marvellous promise1 some are old and sick1 ,amongst them there be mothers1 infants1 brides1 ,just like your ,christian people1 for all the world4 ,know ye what burning is8 ,hath one of you ,scorched ever his soft flesh1 or singed his beard1 ,his hair1 his eyebrows--felt the keen1 fierce nip ,of the pungent flame--and raises not his voice ,to stop this holocaust8 ,god6 't is too horrible6 ,wake me1 my friends1 from this terrific dream4 ,,susskind4 ,courage1 my brother4 ,on our firmness hangs ,the dignity of ,israel4 ,sir ,governor1 ,i have a secret word to speak with you4 ,,schnetzen4 ,ye shall enjoy with me the jest4 ,these knaves ,are apt to quick invention as in crime4 ,speak out--,i have no secrets from my peers4 ,,susskind4 ,my lord1 what answer would you give your ,christ ,if peradventure1 in this general doom ,you sacrifice a ,christian8 ,some strayed dove ,lost from your cote1 among our vultures caged8 ,beware1 for midst our virgins there is one ,owes kinship nor allegiance to our tribe4 ,for her dear sake be pitiful1 my lords1 ,have mercy on our women6 ,spare at least ,my daughter ,liebhaid1 she is none of mine6 ,she is a ,christian6 ,,schnetzen4 ,just as ,i foretold6 ,the wretches will forswear the sacred'st ties1 ,cringing for life4 ,serpents1 ye all shall die4 ,so wills the ,landgrave2 so the court affirms4 ,your daughter shall be first1 whose wanton arts ,have brought destruction on a princely house4 ,,susskind4 ,my lord1 be moved4 ,you kill your flesh and blood4 ,by ,adonai ,i swear1 your dying wife ,entrusted to these arms her child4 ',t was ,i ,carried your infant from your burning home4 ,lord ,schnetzen1 will you murder your own child8 ,,schnetzen4 ,ha1 excellent6 ,i was awaiting this4 ,thou wilt inoculate our knightly veins ,with thy corrupted ,jewish blood4 ,thou 'lt foist ,this adder on my bosom4 ,henry ,schnetzen ,is no weak dupe1 whom every lie may start4 ,make ready1 ,jew1 for death--and warn thy tribe4 ,,susskind 7kneeling74 ,is there a ,god in heaven8 ,i who ne'er knelt ,until this hour to any man on earth1 ,tyrant1 before thee ,i abase myself4 ,if one red drop of human blood still flow ,in thy congealed veins1 if thou e'er have known ,touch of affection1 the blind natural instinct ,of common kindred1 even beasts partake1 ,thou man of frozen stone1 thou hollow statue1 ,grant me one prayer1 that thou wilt look on her4 ,then shall the eyes of thy dead wife gaze back ,from out the maiden's orbs1 then shall a voice ,within thine entrails1 cry--,this is my child4 ,,schnetzen4 ,enough6 ,i pray you1 my lord ,president1 ,end this unseemly scene4 ,this wretched ,jew ,would thrust a cuckoo's egg within my nest4 ,i have had timely warning4 ,send the twain ,back to their people1 that the court's decree ,be published unto all4 ,,susskind4 ,lord ,tettenborn6 ,citizens6 will you see this nameless crime ,brand the clean earth1 blacken the crystal heaven8 ,why1 no man stirs6 ,god6 with what thick strange fumes ,hast thou1 o' the sudden1 brutalized their sense8 ,or am ,i mad8 ,is this already hell8 ,worshipful fiends1 ,i have good store of gold1 ,packed in my coffers1 or loaned out to--,christians2 ,i give it you as free as night bestows ,her copious dews--my life shall seal the bond1 ,have mercy on my race6 ,,tettenborn4 ,no more1 no more6 ,go1 bid your tribe make ready for their death ,at sunset4 ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,oh6 ,,susskind4 ,at set of sun to-day8 ,why1 if you travelled to the nighest town1 ,summoned to stand before a mortal ,prince ,you would need longer grace to put in order ,household effects1 to bid farewell to friends1 ,and make yourself right worthy4 ,but our way ,is long1 our journey difficult1 our judge ,of awful majesty4 ,must we set forth1 ,haste-flushed and unprepared8 ,one brief day more1 ,and all my wealth is yours6 ,,tettenborn4 ,we have heard enough4 ,begone1 and bear our message4 ,,susskind4 ,courage1 brother1 ,our fate is sealed4 ,these tigers are athirst4 ,return we to our people to proclaim ,the gracious sentence of the noble court4 ,let us go thank the ,lord who made us those ,to suffer1 not to do1 this deed4 ,be strong4 ,so6 lean on me--we have little time to lose4 ,exeunt4 ,,act ,v4 ,,scene ,i4 ,a ,room in ,susskind's ,house4 ,,liebhaid1 ,,claire1 ,,reuben4 ,,liebhaid4 ,the air hangs sultry as in mid-,july4 ,look forth1 ,claire2 moves not some big thundercloud ,athwart the sky8 ,my heart is sick4 ,,claire4 ,nay1 ,liebhaid4 ,the clear ,may sun is shining1 and the air ,blows fresh and cordial from the budding hills4 ,,liebhaid4 ,reuben1 what is 't o'clock4 ,our father stays4 ,the midday meal was cold an hour agone4 ,,reuben4 ',t is two full hours past noon2 he should be here4 ,ah see1 he comes4 ,great ,god6 what woe has chanced8 ,he totters on his staff2 he has grown old ,since he went forth this morn4 ,enter ,,susskind4 ,,liebhaid4 ,father1 what news8 ,,susskind4 ,the ,lord have mercy6 ,vain is the help of man4 ,children1 is all in order8 ,we must start ,at set of sun on a long pilgrimage4 ,so wills the ,landgrave1 so the court decrees4 ,,liebhaid4 ,what is it1 father8 ,exile8 ,,susskind4 ,yea1 just that4 ,we are banished from our vexed1 uncertain homes1 ',midst foes and strangers1 to a land of peace1 ,where joy abides1 where only comfort is4 ,banished from care1 fear1 trouble1 life--to death4 ,,reuben4 ,oh horror6 horror6 ,father1 ,i will not die4 ,come1 let us flee--we yet have time for flight4 ,i'll bribe the sentinel--he will ope the gates4 ,liebhaid1 ,claire1 ,father6 let us flee6 ,away ,to some safe land where we may nurse revenge4 ,,susskind4 ,courage1 my son1 and peace4 ,we may not flee4 ,didst thou not see the spies who dogged my steps8 ,the gates are thronged with citizens and guards4 ,we must not flee--,god wills that we should die4 ,,liebhaid4 ,said you at sunset8 ,,susskind4 ,so they have decreed4 ,,claire4 ,oh why not now8 ,why spare the time to warn8 ,why came they not with thee to massacre1 ,leaving no agony betwixt the sentence ,and instant execution8 ,that were mercy6 ,oh1 my prophetic father6 ,,susskind4 ,they allow ,full five hours' grace to shrive our souls with prayer4 ,we shall assemble in the ,synagogue1 ,as on ,atonement ,day1 confess our sins1 ,recite the ,kaddish for the ,dead1 and chant ,our ,shibboleth1 the ,unity of ,god1 ,until the supreme hour when we shall stand ,before the mercy-seat4 ,,liebhaid4 ,in what dread shape ,approaches death8 ,,susskind4 ,nerve your young hearts1 my children4 ,we shall go down as ,god's three servants went ,into the fiery furnace4 ,not again ,shall the flames spare the true-believers' flesh4 ,the anguish shall be fierce and strong1 yet brief4 ,our spirits shall not know the touch of pain1 ,pure as refined gold they shall issue safe ,from the hot crucible2 a pleasing sight ,unto the ,lord4 ,oh1 't is a rosy bed ,where we shall couch1 compared with that whereon ,they lie who kindle this accursed blaze4 ,ye shrink8 ye would avert your martyred brows ,from the immortal crowns the angels offer8 ,what6 are we ,jews and are afraid of death8 ,god's chosen people1 shall we stand a-tremble ,before our ,father1 as the ,gentiles use8 ,,reuben4 ,shall the smoke choke us1 father8 or the flame ,consume our flesh8 ,,susskind4 ,i know not1 boy4 ,be sure ,the ,lord will temper the shrewd pain for those ,who trust in ,him4 ,,reuben4 ,may ,i stand by thy side1 ,and hold my hand in thine until the end8 ,,susskind 7,aside74 ,what solace hast thou1 ,god1 in all thy heavens ,for such an hour as this8 ,yea1 hand in hand ,we walk1 my son1 through fire1 to meet the ,lord4 ,yet there is one among us shall not burn4 ,a secret shaft long rankling in my heart1 ,now ,i withdraw1 and die4 ,our general doom1 ,liebhaid1 is not for thee4 ,thou art no ,jewess4 ,thy father is the man who wills our death2 ,lord ,henry ,schnetzen4 ,,liebhaid4 ,look at me6 your eyes ,are sane1 correcting your distracted words4 ,this is ,love's trick1 to rescue me from death4 ,my love is firm as thine1 and dies with thee4 ,,claire4 ,oh1 ,liebhaid1 live4 ,hast thou forgot the ,prince8 ,think of the happy summer blooms for thee ,when we are in our graves4 ,,liebhaid4 ,and ,i shall smile1 ,live and rejoice in love1 when ye are dead8 ,,susskind4 ,my child1 my child6 ,by the ,ineffable ,name1 ,the ,adonai1 ,i swear1 thou must believe1 ,albeit thy father scoffed1 gave me the lie4 ,go kneel to him--for if he see thy face1 ,or hear thy voice1 he shall not doubt1 but save4 ,,liebhaid4 ,never6 ,if ,i be offspring to that kite1 ,i here deny my race1 forsake my father1-- ,so does thy dream fall true4 ,let him save thee1 ,whose hand has guided mine1 whose lips have blessed1 ,whose bread has nourished me4 ,thy ,god is mine1 ,thy people are my people4 ,,voices 7without74 ,susskind von ,orb6 ,,susskind4 ,i come1 my friends4 ,enter boisterously certain ,jews4 #a,,st ,,jew4 ,come to the house of ,god6 #b;,d ,,jew4 ,wilt thou desert us for whose sake we perish8 #c;,d ,,jew4 ,the awful hour draws nigh4 ,come forth with us ,unto the ,synagogue4 ,,susskind4 ,bear with me1 neighbors4 ,here we may weep1 here for the last time know ,the luxury of sorrow1 the soft touch ,of natural tenderness2 here our hearts may break2 ,yonder no tears1 no faltering6 ,eyes serene ,lifted to heaven1 and defiant brows ,to those who have usurped the name of men1 ,must prove our faith and valor limitless ,as is their cruelty4 ,one more embrace1 ,my daughter1 thrice my daughter6 ,thine affection ,outshines the hellish flames of hate2 farewell1 ,but for a while2 beyond the river of fire ,i'll fold thee in mine arms1 immortal angel6 ,for thee1 poor orphan1 soon to greet again ,the blessed brows of parents1 ,i dreamed not ,the grave was all the home ,i had to give4 ,go thou with ,liebhaid1 and array yourselves ,as for a bridal4 ,come1 little son1 with me4 ,friends1 ,i am ready4 ,o my ,god1 my ,god1 ,forsake us not in our extremity6 ,exeunt ,,susskind and ,,jews4 ,,scene ,,ii4 ,a ,street in the ,judengasse4 ,several ,jews pass across the stage1 running and with gestures of distress4 ,,jews4 ,woe1 woe6 the curse has fallen6 ,exeunt4 ,enter other ,jews4 #a,,st ,,jew4 ,we are doomed4 ,the fury of the ,lord has smitten us4 ,oh that mine head were waters and mine eyes ,fountains of tears6 ,god has forsaken us4 ,they knock at the doors of the houses4 #b;,d ,,jew4 ,what1 ,benjamin6 ,open the door to death6 ,we all shall die at sunset6 ,menachem6 ,come forth6 ,come forth6 ,manasseh6 ,daniel6 ,ezra6 ,jews appear at the windows4 ,,one ,,calling ,,from ,,above4 ,neighbors1 what wild alarm is this8 #a,,st ,,jew4 ,descend6 ,descend6 ,come with us to the house of prayer4 ,save himself whoso can6 we all shall burn4 ,men and women appear at the doors of the houses4 ,,one ,,of ,,the ,,men ,,at ,,the ,,door4 ,beseech you brethren1 calmly4 ,tell us all6 ,mine aged father lies at point of death ,gasping within4 ,ye'll thrust him in his grave ,with boisterous clamor4 #a,,st ,,jew4 ,blessed is the man ,whom the ,lord calls unto ,himself in peace6 ,susskind von ,orb and ,rabbi ,jacob come ,from the tribunal where the vote is--,death ,to all our race4 ,,several ,,voices4 ,woe6 woe6 ,god pity us6 #a,,st ,,jew4 ,hie ye within1 and take a last farewell ,of home1 love1 life--put on your festal robes4 ,so wills the ,rabbi1 and come forth at once ,to pray till sunset in the ,synagogue4 ,,an ,,old ,,man4 ,o ,god6 ,is this the portion of mine age8 ,were my white hairs1 my old bones spared for this8 ,oh cruel1 cruel6 ,a ,,young ,,girl4 ,i am too young to die4 ,save me1 my father6 ,to-morrow should have been ,the feast at ,rachel's house4 ,i longed for that1 ,counted the days1 dreaded some trivial chance ,might cross my pleasure--,lo1 this horror comes6 ,a ,,bride4 ,oh love6 oh thou just-tasted cup of joy ,snatched from my lips6 ,shall we twain lie with death1 ,dark1 silent1 cold--whose every sense was tuned ,to happiness6 ,life was too beautiful-- ,that was the dream--how soon we are awake6 ,ah1 we have that within our hearts defies ,their fiercest flames4 ,no end1 no end1 no end6 ,,jew4 ,god with a mighty hand1 a stretched-out arm1 ,and poured-out fury1 ruleth over us4 ,the sword is furbished1 sharp i' the slayer's hand4 ,cry out and howl1 thou son of ,israel6 ,thou shalt be fuel to the fire2 thy blood ,shall overflow the land1 and thou no more ,shalt be remembered--so the ,lord hath spoken4 ,exeunt omnes4 ,,scene ,,iii4 ,within the ,synagogue4 ,above in the gallery1 women sumptuously attired2 some with children by the hand or infants in their arms4 ,below the men and boys with silken scarfs about their shoulders4 ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,the ,lord is nigh unto the broken heart4 ,out of the depths we cry to thee1 oh ,god6 ,show us the path of everlasting life2 ,for in thy presence is the plenitude ,of joy1 and in thy right hand endless bliss4 ,enter ,,susskind1 ,,reuben1 etc4 ,,several ,,voices4 ,woe unto us who perish6 ,a ,,jew4 ,susskind von ,orb1 ,thou hast brought down this doom4 ,would we had heard ,the prophet's voice6 ,,susskind4 ,brethren1 my cup is full6 ,oh let us die as warriors of the ,lord4 ,the ,lord is great in ,zion4 ,let our death ,bring no reproach to ,jacob1 no rebuke ,to ,israel4 ,hark ye6 let us crave one boon ,at our assassins' hands2 beseech them build ,within ,god's acre where our fathers sleep1 ,a dancing-floor to hide the fagots stacked4 ,then let the minstrels strike the harp and lute1 ,and we will dance and sing above the pile1 ,fearless of death1 until the flames engulf1 ,even as ,david danced before the ,lord1 ,as ,miriam danced and sang beside the sea4 ,great is our ,lord6 ,his name is glorious ,in ,judah1 and extolled in ,israel6 ,in ,salem is his tent1 his dwelling place ,in ,zion2 let us chant the praise of ,god6 ,a ,,jew4 ,susskind1 thou speakest well6 ,we will meet death ,with dance and song4 ,embrace him as a bride4 ,so that the ,lord receive us in ,his tent4 ,,several ,,voices4 ,amen6 amen6 amen6 we dance to death6 ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,susskind1 go forth and beg this grace of them4 ,exit ,susskind4 ,punish us not in wrath1 chastise us not ,in anger1 oh our ,god6 ,our sins o'erwhelm ,our smitten heads1 they are a grievous load2 ,we look on our iniquities1 we tremble1 ,knowing our trespasses4 ,forsake us not4 ,be thou not far from us4 ,haste to our aid1 ,oh ,god1 who art our ,saviour and our ,rock6 ,reenter ,,susskind4 ,,susskind4 ,brethren1 our prayer1 being the last1 is granted4 ,the hour approaches4 ,let our thoughts ascend ,from mortal anguish to the ecstasy ,of martyrdom1 the blessed death of those ,who perish in the ,lord4 ,i see1 ,i see ,how ,israel's ever-crescent glory makes ,these flames that would eclipse it1 dark as blots ,of candle-light against the blazing sun4 ,we die a thousand deaths1--drown1 bleed1 and burn2 ,our ashes are dispersed unto the winds4 ,yet the wild winds cherish the sacred seed1 ,the waters guard it in their crystal heart1 ,the fire refuseth to consume4 ,it springs1 ,a tree immortal1 shadowing many lands1 ,unvisited1 unnamed1 undreamed as yet4 ,rather a vine1 full-flowered1 golden-branched1 ,ambrosial-fruited1 creeping on the earth1 ,trod by the passer's foot1 yet chosen to deck ,tables of princes4 ,israel now has fallen ,into the depths1 he shall be great in time499 ,even as we die in honor1 from our death ,shall bloom a myriad heroic lives1 ,brave through our bright example1 virtuous ,lest our great memory fall in disrepute4 ,is one among us brothers1 would exchange ,his doom against our tyrants1--lot for lot8 ,let him go forth and live--he is no ,jew4 ,is one who would not die in ,israel ,rather than live in ,christ1--their ,christ who smiles ,on such a deed as this8 ,let him go forth-- ,he may die full of years upon his bed4 ,ye who nurse rancor haply in your hearts1 ,fear ye we perish unavenged8 ,not so6 ,to-day1 no6 nor to-morrow6 but in ,god's time1 ,our witnesses arise4 ,ours is the truth1 ,ours is the power1 the gift of ,heaven4 ,we hold ,his ,law1 ,his lamp1 ,his covenant1 ,his pledge4 ,wherever in the ages shall arise ,jew-priest1 ,jew-poet1 ,jew-singer1 or ,jew-saint-- ,and everywhere ,i see them star the gloom-- ,in each of these the martyrs are avenged6 99,the vine creeps on the earth1 trodden by the passer's foot1 but its fruit goes upon the table of princes4 ,israel now has fallen in the depths1 but he shall be great in the fullness of time4--,,talmud ,,rabbi ,,jacob4 ,bring from the ,ark the bell-fringed1 silken-bound ,scrolls of the ,law4 ,gather the silver vessels1 ,dismantle the rich curtains of the doors1 ,bring the ,perpetual ,lamp2 all these shall burn1 ,for ,israel's light is darkened1 ,israel's ,law ,profaned by strangers4 ,thus the ,lord hath said399 ,the weapon formed against thee shall not prosper1 ,the tongue that shall contend with thee in judgment1 ,thou shalt condemn4 ,this is the heritage ,of the ,lord's servants and their righteousness4 ,for thou shalt come to peoples yet unborn1 ,declaring that which ,he hath done4 ,amen6 99,conclusion of service for ,day of ,atonement4 ,the doors of the ,synagogue are burst open with tumultuous noise4 ,citizens and officers rush in4 ,,citizens4 ,come forth6 the sun sets4 ,come1 the ,council waits6 ,what6 will ye teach your betters patience8 ,out6 ,the ,governor is ready4 ,forth with you1 ,curs6 serpents6 ,judases6 ,the bonfire burns6 ,exeunt4 ,,scene ,,iv4 ,a ,public ,place4 ,crowds of ,citizens assembled4 ,on a platform are seated ,,dietrich ,,von ,,tettenborn and ,,henry ,,schnetzen with other ,members of the ,council4 #a,,st ,,citizen4 ,here's such a throng6 ,neighbor1 your elbow makes ,an ill prod for my ribs4 #b;,d ,,citizen4 ,i am pushed and squeezed4 ,my limbs are not mine own4 #c;,d ,,citizen4 ,look this way1 wife4 ,they will come hence1--a pack of just-whipped curs4 ,i warrant you the stiff-necked brutes repent ,to-day if ne'er before4 ,,wife4 ,i am all a-quiver4 ,i have seen monstrous sights1--an uncaged wolf1 ,the corpse of one sucked by a vampyre1 ,the widow ,kupfen's malformed child--but never ,until this hour1 a ,jew4 #c;,d ,,citizen4 ,d' ye call me ,jew8 ,where do you spy one now8 ,,wife4 ,you'll have your jest ,now or anon1 what matters it8 #d,,th ,,citizen4 ,well1 ,i ,have seen a ,jew1 and seen one burn at that2 ,hard by in ,wartburg2 he had killed a child4 ,zounds6 how the serpent wriggled6 ,i smell now ,the roasting1 stinking flesh6 ,,boy4 ,father1 be these ,the folk who murdered ,jesus8 #d,,th ,,citizen4 ,ay1 my boy4 ,remember that1 and when you hear them come1 ,i'll lift you on my shoulders4 ,you can fling ,your pebbles with the rest4 ,trumpets sound4 ,,citizens4 ,the ,jews6 the ,jews6 ,,boy4 ,quick1 father6 lift me6 ,i see nothing here ,but hose and skirts4 ,music of a march approaching4 ,,citizens4 ,what mummery is this8 ,the sorcerers brew new mischief4 ,,another ,,citizen4 ,why1 they come ,pranked for a holiday2 not veiled for death4 ,,another ,,citizen4 ,insolent braggarts6 ,they defy the ,christ6 ,enter1 in procession to music1 the ,jews4 ,first1 ,,rabbi ,,jacob-- after him1 sick people1 carried on litters--then old men and women1 followed promiscuously by men1 women1 and children of all ages4 ,some of the men carry gold and silver vessels1 some the ,rolls of the ,law4 ,one bears the ,perpetual ,lamp1 another the ,seven-branched silver ,candlestick of the ,synagogue4 ,the mothers have their children by the hand or in their arms4 ,all richly attired4 ,,citizens4 ,the misers6 they will take their gems and gold ,down to the grave6 ,,citizen',s ,,wife4 ,so these be ,jews6 ,christ save us6 ,to think the devils look like human folk6 ,,citizens4 ,cursed be the poison-mixers6 ,let them burn6 ,,citizens4 ,burn6 burn6 ,enter ,,susskind ,,von ,,orb1 ,,liebhaid1 ,,reuben1 and ,,claire4 ,,schnetzen4 ,good ,god6 what maid is that8 ,,tettenborn4 ,liebhaid von ,orb4 ,,schnetzen4 ,the devil's trick6 ,he has bewitched mine eyes4 ,,susskind 7as he passes the platform74 ,woe to the father ,who murders his own child6 ,,schnetzen4 ,i am avenged1 ,susskind von ,orb6 ,blood for blood1 fire for fire1 ,and death for death6 ,exeunt ,,susskind1 ,,liebhaid1 etc4 ,enter ,jewish youths and maidens4 ,,youths 7in chorus74 ,let us rejoice1 for it is promised us ,that we shall enter in ,god's tabernacle6 ,,maidens4 ,our feet shall stand within thy gates1 ,o ,zion1 ,within thy portals1 ,o ,jerusalem6 ,exeunt4 ,,citizen',s ,,wife4 ,i can see naught from here4 ,let's follow1 ,hans4 ,,citizen4 ,be satisfied4 ,there is no inch of space ,for foot to rest on yonder4 ,look6 look there6 ,how the flames rise6 ,,boy4 ,o father1 ,i can see6 ,they all are dancing in the crimson blaze4 ,look how their garments wave1 their jewels shine1 ,when the smoke parts a bit4 ,the tall flames dart4 ,is not the fire real fire8 ,they fear it not4 ,,voices ,,without4 ,arise1 oh house of ,jacob4 ,let us walk ,within the light of the ,almighty ,lord6 ,enter in furious haste ,,prince ,,william and ,,nordmann4 ,,prince ,,william4 ,respite6 ,you kill your daughter1 ,henry ,schnetzen6 ,,nordmann4 ,liebhaid von ,orb is your own flesh and blood4 ,,schnetzen4 ,spectre6 do dead men rise8 ,,nordmann4 ,yea1 for revenge6 ,i swear1 ,lord ,schnetzen1 by my knightly honor1 ,she who is dancing yonder to her death1 ,is thy wife's child6 ,,schnetzen and ,,prince ,,william make a rush forward towards the flames4 ,music ceases2 a sound of crashing boards is heard and a great cry--,,hallelujah6 ,,prince ,,william and ,,schnetzen4 ,too late6 too late6 ,,citizens4 ,all's done6 ,,prince ,,william4 ,the fire6 the fire6 ,liebhaid1 ,i come to thee4 ,he is about to spring forward1 but is held back by guards4 ,,schnetzen4 ,oh cruel ,christ6 ,is there no bolt in heaven ,for the child murderer8 ,kill me1 my friends6 my breast ,is bare to all your swords4 ,he tears open his jerkin1 and falls unconscious4 ,curtain falls4 ,,the ,,end4 ,note3 ,the plot and incidents of this ,tragedy are taken from a little narrative entitled ,der ,tanz zum ,tode2 ein ,nachtstuck aus dem vierzehnten ,jahrhundert1 7,the ,dance to ,death--a ,night-piece of the fourteenth century74 ,by ,richard ,reinhard4 ,compiled from authentic documents communicated by ,professor ,franz ,delitzsch4 ,the original narrative thus disposes1 in conclusion1 of the principal characters3-- ,the ,knight ,henry ,schnetzen ended his curse-stricken life in a cloister of the strictest order4 ,herr ,nordmann was placed in close confinement1 and during the same year his head fell under the sword of the executioner4 ,prince ,william returned1 broken down with sorrow1 to ,eisenach4 ,his princely father's heart found no comfort during the remainder of his days4 ,he died soon after the murder of the ,jews--his last words were1 'woe6 the fire6' ,william reached an advanced age1 but his life was joyless4 ,he never married1 and at his death ,meissen was inherited by his nephew4 ,the ,jewish cemetery in ,nordhausen1 the scene of this martyrdom1 lay for a long time waste4 ,nobody would build upon it4 ,now it is a bleaching meadow1 and where once the flames sprang up1 to-day rests peaceful sunshine4 ,,translations4 ,,translations ,,from ,,the ,,hebrew ,,poets ,,of ,,medaeval ,,spain4 ,,solomon ,,ben ,,judah ,,gabirol 7,died ,between #ajgj-hj47 ,am ,i sipping the honey of the lips8 ,am ,i drunk with the wine of a kiss8 ,have ,i culled the flowers of the cheek1 ,have ,i sucked the fresh fragrance of the breath8 ,nay1 it is the ,song of ,gabirol that has revived me1 ,the perfume of his youthful1 spring-tide breeze4 --,,moses ,,ben ,,esra4 ,i will engrave my songs indelibly upon the heart of the world1 so that no one can efface them4 --,,gabirol4 ,,night-,,piece4 ,night1 and the heavens beam serene with peace1 ,like a pure heart benignly smiles the moon4 ,oh1 guard thy blessed beauty from mischance1 ,this ,i beseech thee in all tender love4 ,see where the ,storm his cloudy mantle spreads1 ,an ashy curtain covereth the moon4 ,as if the tempest thirsted for the rain1 ,the clouds he presses1 till they burst in streams4 ,heaven wears a dusky raiment1 and the moon ,appeareth dead--her tomb is yonder cloud1 ,and weeping shades come after1 like the people ,who mourn with tearful grief a noble queen4 ,but look6 the thunder pierced night's close-linked mail1 ,his keen-tipped lance of lightning brandishing2 ,he hovers like a seraph-conqueror4-- ,dazed by the flaming splendor of his wings1 ,in rapid flight as in a whirling dance1 ,the black cloud-ravens hurry scared away4 ,so1 though the powers of darkness chain my soul1 ,my heart1 a hero1 chafes and breaks its bonds4 ,,night-,,thoughts4 ,will night already spread her wings and weave ,her dusky robe about the day's bright form1 ,boldly the sun's fair countenance displacing1 ,and swathe it with her shadow in broad day8 ,so a green wreath of mist enrings the moon1 ,till envious clouds do quite encompass her4 ,no wind6 and yet the slender stem is stirred1 ,with faint1 slight motion as from inward tremor4 ,mine eyes are full of grief--who sees me1 asks1 ,oh wherefore dost thou cling unto the ground8 ,my friends discourse with sweet and soothing words2 ,they all are vain1 they glide above my head4 ,i fain would check my tears2 would fain enlarge ,unto infinity1 my heart--in vain6 ,grief presses hard my breast1 therefore my tears ,have scarcely dried1 ere they again spring forth4 ,for these are streams no furnace heat may quench1 ,nebuchadnezzar's flames may dry them not4 ,what is the pleasure of the day for me1 ,if1 in its crucible1 ,i must renew ,incessantly the pangs of purifying8 ,up1 challenge1 wrestle1 and o'ercome6 ,be strong6 ,the late grapes cover all the vine with fruit4 ,i am not glad1 though even the lion's pride ,content itself upon the field's poor grass4 ,my spirit sinks beneath the tide1 soars not ,with fluttering seamews on the moist1 soft strand4 ,i follow ,fortune not1 where'er she lead4 ,lord o'er myself1 ,i banish her1 compel1 ,and though her clouds should rain no blessed dew1 ,though she withhold the crown1 the heart's desire1 ,though all deceive1 though honey change to gall1 ,still am ,i lord1 and will in freedom strive4 ,,meditations4 ,forget thine anguish1 ,vexed heart1 again4 ,why shouldst thou languish1 ,with earthly pain8 ,the husk shall slumber1 ,bedded in clay ,silent and sombre1 ,oblivion's prey6 ,but1 ,spirit immortal1 ,thou at ,death's portal1 ,tremblest with fear4 ,if he caress thee1 ,curse thee or bless thee1 ,thou must draw near1 ,from him the worth of thy works to hear4 ,why full of terror1 ,compassed with error1 ,trouble thy heart1 ,for thy mortal part8 ,the soul flies home-- ,the corpse is dumb4 ,of all thou didst have1 ,follows naught to the grave4 ,thou fliest thy nest1 ,swift as a bird to thy place of rest4 ,what avail grief and fasting1 ,where nothing is lasting8 ,pomp1 domination1 ,become tribulation4 ,in a health-giving draught1 ,a death-dealing shaft4 ,wealth--an illusion1 ,power--a lie1 ,over all1 dissolution ,creeps silent and sly4 ,unto others remain ,the goods thou didst gain ,with infinite pain4 ,life is a vine-branch2 ,a vintager1 ,death4 ,he threatens and lowers ,more near with each breath4 ,then hasten1 arise6 ,seek ,god1 ,o my soul6 ,for time quickly flies1 ,still far is the goal4 ,vain heart praying dumbly1 ,learn to prize humbly1 ,the meanest of fare4 ,forget all thy sorrow1 ,behold1 ,death is there6 ,dove-like lamenting1 ,be full of repenting1 ,lift vision supernal ,to raptures eternal4 ,on ev'ry occasion ,seek lasting salvation4 ,pour thy heart out in weeping1 ,while others are sleeping4 ,pray to ,him when all's still1 ,performing his will4 ,and so shall the angel of peace be thy warden1 ,and guide thee at last to the heavenly garden4 ,,hymn4 ,almighty6 what is man8 ,but flesh and blood4 ,like shadows flee his days1 ,he marks not how they vanish from his gaze1 ,suddenly1 he must die-- ,he droppeth1 stunned1 into nonentity4 ,almighty6 what is man8 ,a body frail and weak1 ,full of deceit and lies1 ,of vile hypocrisies4 ,now like a flower blowing1 ,now scorched by sunbeams glowing4 ,and wilt thou of his trespasses inquire8 ,how may he ever bear ,thine anger just1 thy vengeance dire8 ,punish him not1 but spare1 ,for he is void of power and strength6 ,almighty6 what is man8 ,by filthy lust possessed1 ,whirled in a round of lies1 ,fond frenzy swells his breast4 ,the pure man sinks in mire and slime1 ,the noble shrinketh not from crime1 ,wilt thou resent on him the charms of sin8 ,like fading grass1 ,so shall he pass4 ,like chaff that blows ,where the wind goes4 ,then spare him1 be thou merciful1 ,o ,king1 ,upon the dreaded day of reckoning6 ,almighty6 what is man8 ,the haughty son of time ,drinks deep of sin1 ,and feeds on crime ,seething like waves that roll1 ,hot as a glowing coal4 ,and wilt thou punish him for sins inborn8 ,lost and forlorn1 ,then like the weakling he must fall1 ,who some great hero strives withal4 ,oh1 spare him1 therefore6 let him win ,grace for his sin6 ,almighty6 what is man8 ,spotted in guilty wise1 ,a stranger unto faith1 ,whose tongue is stained with lies1 ,and shalt thou count his sins--so is he lost1 ,uprooted by thy breath4 ,like to a stream by tempest tossed1 ,his life falls from him like a cloak1 ,he passes into nothingness1 like smoke4 ,then spare him1 punish not1 be kind1 ,i pray1 ,to him who dwelleth in the dust1 an image wrought in clay6 ,almighty6 what is man8 ,a withered bough6 ,when he is awe-struck by approaching doom1 ,like a dried blade of grass1 so weak1 so low ,the pleasure of his life is changed to gloom4 ,he crumbles like a garment spoiled with moth2 ,according to his sins wilt thou be wroth8 ,he melts like wax before the candle's breath1 ,yea1 like thin water1 so he vanisheth1 ,oh1 spare him therefore1 for thy gracious name1 ,and be not too severe upon his shame6 ,almighty6 what is man8 ,a faded leaf6 ,if thou dost weigh him in the balance--lo6 ,he disappears--a breath that thou dost blow4 ,his heart is ever filled ,with lust of lies unstilled4 ,wilt thou bear in mind his crime ,unto all time8 ,he fades away like clouds sun-kissed1 ,dissolves like mist4 ,then spare him6 let him love and mercy win1 ,according to thy grace1 and not according to his sin6 ,,to ,a ,,detractor4 ,the ,autumn promised1 and he keeps ,his word unto the meadow-rose4 ,the pure1 bright lightnings herald ,spring1 ,serene and glad the fresh earth shows4 ,the rain has quenched her children's thirst1 ,her cheeks1 but now so cold and dry1 ,are soft and fair1 a laughing face2 ,with clouds of purple shines the sky1 ,though filled with light1 yet veiled with haze4 ,hark6 hark6 the turtle's mocking note ,outsings the valley-pigeon's lays4 ,her wings are gemmed1 and from her throat1 ,when the clear sun gleams back again1 ,it seems to me as though she wore ,about her neck a jewelled chain4 ,say1 wilt thou darken such a light1 ,wilt drag the clouds from heaven's height8 ,although thy heart with anger swell1 ,yet firm as marble mine doth dwell4 ,therein no fear thy wrath begets4 ,it is not shaken by thy threats4 ,yea1 hurl thy darts1 thy weapons wield1 ,the strength of youth is still my shield4 ,my winged steed toward the heights doth bound1 ,the dust whiffs upward from the ground2 ,my song is scanty1 dost thou deem ,thine eloquence a mighty stream8 ,only the blameless offering4 ,not the profusion man may bring1 ,prevaileth with our ,lord and ,king4 ,the long days out of minutes grow1 ,and out of months the years arise1 ,wilt thou be master of the wise1 ,then learn the hidden stream to know1 ,that from the inmost heart doth flow4 ,,fragment4 ,my friend spoke with insinuating tongue3 ,drink wine1 and thy flesh shall be made whole4 ,look how it hisses in the leathern bottle like a captured serpent4 ,oh fool6 can the sun be forged into a cask stopped with earthly bungs4 ,i know not that the power of wine has ever overmastered my sorrows2 for these mighty giants ,i have found as yet no resting-place4 ,,stanzas4 ,with tears thy grief thou dost bemoan1 ,tears that would melt the hardest stone1 ,oh1 wherefore sing'st thou not the vine8 ,why chant'st thou not the praise of wine8 ,it chases pain with cunning art1 ,the craven slinks from out thy heart4 ,but ,i3 ,poor fools the wine may cheat1 ,lull them with lying visions sweet4 ,upon the wings of storms may bear ,the heavy burden of their care4 ,the father's heart may harden so1 ,he feeleth not his own child's woe4 ,no ocean is the cup1 no sea1 ,to drown my broad1 deep misery4 ,it grows so rank1 you cut it all1 ,the aftermath springs just as tall4 ,my heart and flesh are worn away1 ,mine eyes are darkened from the day4 ,the lovely morning-red behold ,wave to the breeze her flag of gold4 ,the hosts of stars above the world1 ,like banners vanishing are furled4 ,the dew shines bright2 ,i bide forlorn1 ,and shudder with the chill of morn4 ,,wine ,,and ,,grief4 ,with heavy groans did ,i approach my friends1 ,heavy as though the mountains ,i would move4 ,the flagon they were murdering2 they poured ,into the cup1 wild-eyed1 the grape's red blood4 ,no1 they killed not1 they breathed new life therein4 ,then1 too1 in fiery rapture1 burned my veins1 ,but soon the fumes had fled4 ,in vain1 in vain6 ,ye cannot fill the breach of the rent heart4 ,ye crave a sensuous joy2 ye strive in vain ,to cheat with flames of passion1 my despair4 ,so when the sinking sun draws near to night1 ,the sky's bright cheeks fade 'neath those tresses black4 ,ye laugh--but silently the soul weeps on2 ,ye cannot stifle her sincere lament4 ,,defiance4 ,conquer the gloomy night of thy sorrow1 for the morning greets thee with laughter4 ,rise and clothe thyself with noble pride1 ,break loose from the tyranny of grief4 ,thou standest alone among men1 ,thy song is like a pearl in beauty4 ,so spake my friend4 ',t is well6 ,the billows of the stormy sea which overwhelmed my soul1-- ,these ,i subdue2 ,i quake not ,before the bow and arrow of destiny4 ,i endured with patience when he deceitfully lied to me ,with his treacherous smile4 ,yea1 boldly ,i defy ,fate1 ,i cringe not to envious ,fortune4 ,i mock the towering floods4 ,my brave heart does not shrink-- ,this heart of mine1 that1 albeit young in years1 ,is none the less rich in deep1 keen-eyed experience4 ,a ,,degenerate ,,age4 ,where is the man who has been tried and found strong and sound8 ,where is the friend of reason and of knowledge8 ,i see only sceptics and weaklings4 ,i see only prisoners in the durance of the senses1 ,and every fool and every spendthrift ,thinks himself as great a master as ,aristotle4 ,think'st thou that they have written poems8 ,call'st thou that a ,song8 ,i call it the cackling of ravens4 ,the zeal of the prophet must free poesy ,from the embrace of wanton youths4 ,my song ,i have inscribed on the forehead of ,time1 ,they know and hate it--for it is lofty4 ,,abul ,,hassan ,,judah ,,ben ,,ha-,,levi4 7,born ,between #ajhj-ij47 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,his ,,friend ,,isaac4 ,but yesterday the earth drank like a child ,with eager thirst the autumn rain4 ,or like a wistful bride who waits the hour ,of love's mysterious bliss and pain4 ,and now the ,spring is here with yearning eyes2 ,midst shimmering golden flower-beds1 ,on meadows carpeted with varied hues1 ,in richest raiment clad1 she treads4 ,she weaves a tapestry of bloom o'er all1 ,and myriad eyed young plants upspring1 ,white1 green1 or red like lips that to the mouth ,of the beloved one sweetly cling4 ,whence come these radiant tints1 these blended beams8 ,here's such a dazzle1 such a blaze1 ,as though each stole the splendor of the stars1 ,fain to eclipse them with her rays4 ,come6 go we to the garden with our wine1 ,which scatters sparks of hot desire1 ,within our hand 't is cold1 but in our veins ,it flashes clear1 it glows like fire4 ,it bubbles sunnily in earthen jugs4 ,we catch it in the crystal glass1 ,then wander through cool1 shadowy lanes and breathe ,the spicy freshness of the grass4 ,whilst we with happy hearts our circuit keep1 ,the gladness of the ,earth is shown4 ,she smileth1 though the trickling raindrops weep ,silently o'er her1 one by one4 ,she loves to feel the tears upon her cheek1 ,like a rich veil1 with pearls inwove4 ,joyous she listens when the swallows chirp1 ,and warbles to her mate1 the dove4 ,blithe as a maiden midst the young green leaves1 ,a wreath she'll wind1 a fragrant treasure2 ,all living things in graceful motion leap1 ,as dancing to some merry measure4 ,the morning breezes rustle cordially1 ,love's thirst is sated with the balm they send4 ,sweet breathes the myrtle in the frolic wind1 ,as though remembering a distant friend4 ,the myrtle branch now proudly lifted high1 ,now whispering to itself drops low again4 ,the topmost palm-leaves rapturously stir1 ,for all at once they hear the birds' soft strain4 ,so stirs1 so yearns all nature1 gayly decked1 ,to honor ,,isaac with her best array4 ,hear'st thou the word8 ,she cries--,i beam with joy1 ,because with ,isaac ,i am wed to-day4 ,,admonition4 ,long in the lap of childhood didst thou sleep1 ,think how thy youth like chaff did disappear2 ,shall life's sweet ,spring forever last8 ,look up1 ,old age approaches ominously near4 ,oh shake thou off the world1 even as the bird ,shakes off the midnight dew that clogged his wings4 ,soar upward1 seek redemption from thy guilt ,and from the earthly dross that round thee clings4 ,draw near to ,god1 ,his holy angels know1 ,for whom ,his bounteous streams of mercy flow4 ,,love-,,song4 ,see'st thou o'er my shoulders falling1 ,snake-like ringlets waving free8 ,have no fear1 for they are twisted ,to allure thee unto me4 ,thus she spake1 the gentle dove1 ,listen to thy plighted love3-- ,ah1 how long ,i wait1 until ,sweetheart cometh back 7she said7 ,laying his caressing hand ,underneath my burning head4 ,,separation4 ,and so we twain must part6 ,oh linger yet1 ,let me still feed my glance upon thine eyes4 ,forget not1 love1 the days of our delight1 ,and ,i our nights of bliss shall ever prize4 ,in dreams thy shadowy image ,i shall see1 ,oh even in my dream be kind to me6 ,though ,i were dead1 ,i none the less would hear ,thy step1 thy garment rustling on the sand4 ,and if thou waft me greetings from the grave1 ,i shall drink deep the breath of that cold land4 ,take thou my days1 command this life of mine1 ,if it can lengthen out the space of thine4 ,no voice ,i hear from lips death-pale and chill1 ,yet deep within my heart it echoes still4 ,my frame remains--my soul to thee yearns forth4 ,a shadow ,i must tarry still on earth4 ,back to the body dwelling here in pain1 ,return1 my soul1 make haste and come again6 ,,longing ,,for ,,jerusalem4 ,o city of the world1 with sacred splendor blest1 ,my spirit yearns to thee from out the far-off ,west1 ,a stream of love wells forth when ,i recall thy day1 ,now is thy temple waste1 thy glory passed away4 ,had ,i an eagle's wings1 straight would ,i fly to thee1 ,moisten thy holy dust with wet cheeks streaming free4 ,oh1 how ,i long for thee6 albeit thy ,king has gone1 ,albeit where balm once flowed1 the serpent dwells alone4 ,could ,i but kiss thy dust1 so would ,i fain expire1 ,as sweet as honey then1 my passion1 my desire6 ,,on ,,the ,,voyage ,,to ,,jerusalem4 ,i4 ,my two-score years and ten are over1 ,never again shall youth be mine4 ,the years are ready-winged for flying1 ,what crav'st thou still of feast and wine8 ,wilt thou still court man's acclamation1 ,forgetting what the ,lord hath said8 ,and forfeiting thy weal eternal1 ,by thine own guilty heart misled8 ,shalt thou have never done with folly1 ,still fresh and new must it arise8 ,oh heed it not1 heed not the senses1 ,but follow ,god1 be meek and wise2 ,yea1 profit by thy days remaining1 ,they hurry swiftly to the goal4 ,be zealous in the ,lord's high service1 ,and banish falsehood from thy soul4 ,use all thy strength1 use all thy fervor1 ,defy thine own desires1 awaken6 ,be not afraid when seas are foaming1 ,and earth to her foundations shaken4 ,benumbed the hand then of the sailor1 ,the captain's skill and power are lamed4 ,gayly they sailed with colors flying1 ,and now turn home again ashamed4 ,the ocean is our only refuge1 ,the sandbank is our only goal1 ,the masts are swaying as with terror1 ,and quivering does the vessel roll4 ,the mad wind frolics with the billows1 ,now smooths them low1 now lashes high4 ,now they are storming up like lions1 ,and now like serpents sleek they lie2 ,and wave on wave is ever pressing1 ,they hiss1 they whisper1 soft of tone4 ,alack6 was that the vessel splitting8 ,are sail and mast and rudder gone8 ,here1 screams of fright1 there1 silent weeping1 ,the bravest feels his courage fail4 ,what stead our prudence or our wisdom8 ,the soul itself can naught avail4 ,and each one to his ,god is crying1 ,soar up1 my soul1 to ,him aspire1 ,who wrought a miracle for ,jordan1 ,extol ,him1 oh angelic choir6 ,remember ,him who stays the tempest1 ,the stormy billows doth control1 ,who quickeneth the lifeless body1 ,and fills the empty frame with soul4 ,behold6 once more appears a wonder1 ,the angry waves erst raging wild1 ,like quiet flocks of sheep reposing1 ,so soft1 so still1 so gently mild4 ,the sun descends1 and high in heaven1 ,the golden-circled moon doth stand4 ,within the sea the stars are straying1 ,like wanderers in an unknown land4 ,the lights celestial in the waters ,are flaming clearly as above1 ,as though the very heavens descended1 ,to seal a covenant of love4 ,perchance both sea and sky1 twin oceans1 ,from the same source of grace are sprung4 ',twixt these my heart1 a third sea1 surges1 ,with songs resounding1 clearly sung4 ,,ii4 ,a watery waste the sinful world has grown1 ,with no dry spot whereon the eye can rest1 ,no man1 no beast1 no bird to gaze upon1 ,can all be dead1 with silent sleep possessed8 ,oh1 how ,i long the hills and vales to see1 ,to find myself on barren steppes were bliss4 ,i peer about1 but nothing greeteth me1 ,naught save the ship1 the clouds1 the waves' abyss1 ,the crocodile which rushes from the deeps2 ,the flood foams gray2 the whirling waters reel1 ,now like its prey whereon at last it sweeps1 ,the ocean swallows up the vessel's keel4 ,the billows rage--exult1 oh soul of mine1 ,soon shalt thou enter the ,lord's sacred shrine6 ,,iii4 ,,to ,,the ,,west ,,wind4 ,o ,west1 how fragrant breathes thy gentle air1 ,spikenard and aloes on thy pinions glide4 ,thou blow'st from spicy chambers1 not from there ,where angry winds and tempests fierce abide4 ,as on a bird's wings thou dost waft me home1 ,sweet as a bundle of rich myrrh to me4 ,and after thee yearn all the throngs that roam ,and furrow with light keel the rolling sea4 ,desert her not--our ship--bide with her oft1 ,when the day sinks and in the morning light4 ,smooth thou the deeps and make the billows soft1 ,nor rest save at our goal1 the sacred height4 ,chide thou the ,east that chafes the raging flood1 ,and swells the towering surges wild and rude4 ,what can ,i do1 the elements' poor slave8 ,now do they hold me fast1 now leave me free2 ,cling to the ,lord1 my soul1 for ,he will save1 ,who caused the mountains and the winds to be4 ,,moses ,,ben ,,esra 7,about #aajj74 ,,extracts ,,from ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,tarshish1 ,,or ,,necklace ,,of ,,pearls4 ,i4 ,the shadow of the houses leave behind1 ,in the cool boscage of the grove reclined1 ,the wine of friendship from love's goblet drink1 ,and entertain with cheerful speech the mind4 ,drink1 friend6 behold1 the dreary winter's gone1 ,the mantle of old age has time withdrawn4 ,the sunbeam glitters in the morning dew1 ,o'er hill and vale youth's bloom is surging on4 ,cup-bearer6 quench with snow the goblet's fire1 ,even as the wise man cools and stills his ire4 ,look1 when the jar is drained1 upon the brim ,the light foam melteth with the heart's desire4 ,cup-bearer6 bring anear the silver bowl1 ,and with the glowing gold fulfil the whole1 ,unto the weak new vigor it imparts1 ,and without lance subdues the hero's soul4 ,my love sways1 dancing1 like the myrtle-tree1 ,the masses of her curls disheveled1 see6 ,she kills me with her darts1 intoxicates ,my burning blood1 and will not set me free4 ,within the aromatic garden come1 ,and slowly in its shadows let us roam1 ,the foliage be the turban for our brows1 ,and the green branches o'er our heads a dome4 ,all pain thou with the goblet shalt assuage1 ,the wine-cup heals the sharpest pangs that rage1 ,let others crave inheritance of wealth1 ,joy be our portion and our heritage4 ,drink in the garden1 friend1 anigh the rose1 ,richer than spice's breath the soft air blows4 ,if it should cease a little traitor then1 ,a zephyr light its secret would disclose4 ,,ii4 ,thou who art clothed in silk1 who drawest on ,proudly thy raiment of fine linen spun1 ,bethink thee of the day when thou alone ,shall dwell at last beneath the marble stone4 ,anigh the nests of adders thine abode1 ,with the earth-crawling serpent and the toad4 ,trust in the ,lord1 ,he will sustain thee there1 ,and without fear thy soul shall rest with ,god4 ,if the world flatter thee with soft-voiced art1 ,know 't is a cunning witch who charms thy heart1 ,whose habit is to wed man's soul with grief1 ,and those who are close-bound in love to part4 ,he who bestows his wealth upon the poor1 ,has only lent it to the ,lord1 be sure-- ,of what avail to clasp it with clenched hand8 ,it goes not with us to the grave obscure4 ,the voice of those who dwell within the tomb1 ,who in corruption's house have made their home2 ,o ye who wander o'er us still to-day1 ,when will ye come to share with us the gloom8 ,how can'st thou ever of the world complain1 ,and murmuring1 burden it with all thy pain8 ,silence6 thou art a traveller at an inn1 ,a guest1 who may but over night remain4 ,be thou not wroth against the proud1 but show ,how he who yesterday great joy did know1 ,to-day is begging for his very bread1 ,and painfully upon a crutch must go4 ,how foolish they whose faith is fixed upon ,the treasures of their worldly wealth alone1 ,far wiser were it to obey the ,lord1 ,and only say1 ,the will of ,god be done6 ,has ,fortune smiled on thee8 ,oh do not trust ,her reckless joy1 she still deceives and must4 ,perpetual snares she spreads about thy feet1 ,thou shalt not rest till thou art mixed with dust4 ,man is a weaver on the earth1 't is said1 ,who weaves and weaves--his own days are the thread1 ,and when the length allotted he hath spun1 ,all life is over1 and all hope is dead4 ,,in ,,the ,,night4 ,unto the house of prayer my spirit yearns1 ,unto the sources of her being turns1 ,to where the sacred light of heaven burns1 ,she struggles thitherward by day and night4 ,the splendor of ,god's glory blinds her eyes1 ,up without wings she soareth to the skies1 ,with silent aspiration seeks to rise1 ,in dusky evening and in darksome night4 ,to her the wonders of ,god's works appear1 ,she longs with fervor ,him to draw anear1 ,the tidings of ,his glory reach her ear1 ,from morn to even1 and from night to night4 ,the banner of thy grace did o'er me rest1 ,yet was thy worship banished from my breast4 ,almighty1 thou didst seek me out and test ,to try and to instruct me in the night4 ,i dare not idly on my pillow lie1 ,with winged feet to the shrine ,i fain would fly1 ,when chained by leaden slumbers heavily1 ,men rest in imaged shadows1 dreams of night4 ,infatuate ,i trifled youth away1 ,in nothingness dreamed through my manhood's day4 ,therefore my streaming tears ,i may not stay1 ,they are my meat and drink by day and night4 ,in flesh imprisoned is the son of light1 ,this life is but a bridge when seen aright4 ,rise in the silent hour and pray with might1 ,awake and call upon thy ,god by night6 ,hasten to cleanse thyself of sin1 arise6 ,follow ,truth's path that leads unto the skies1 ,as swift as yesterday existence flies1 ,brief even as a watch within the night4 ,man enters life for trouble2 all he has1 ,and all that he beholds1 is pain1 alas6 ,like to a flower does he bloom and pass1 ,he fadeth like a vision of the night4 ,the surging floods of life around him roar1 ,death feeds upon him1 pity is no more1 ,to others all his riches he gives o'er1 ,and dieth in the middle hour of night4 ,crushed by the burden of my sins ,i pray1 ,oh1 wherefore shunned ,i not the evil way8 ,deep are my sighs1 ,i weep the livelong day1 ,and wet my couch with tears night after night4 ,my spirit stirs1 my streaming tears still run1 ,like to the wild birds' notes my sorrows' tone1 ,in the hushed silence loud resounds my groan1 ,my soul arises moaning in the night4 ,within her narrow cell oppressed with dread1 ,bare of adornment and with grief-bowed head ,lamenting1 many a tear her sad eyes shed1 ,she weeps with anguish in the gloomy night4 ,for tears my burden seem to lighten best1 ,could ,i but weep my heart's blood1 ,i might rest4 ,my spirit bows with mighty grief oppressed1 ,i utter forth my prayer within the night4 ,youth's charm has like a fleeting shadow gone1 ,with eagle wings the hours of life have flown4 ,alas6 the time when pleasure ,i have known1 ,i may not now recall by day or night4 ,the haughty scorn pursues me of my foe1 ,evil his thought1 yet soft his speech and low4 ,forget it not1 but bear his purpose so ,forever in thy mind by day and night4 ,observe a pious fast1 be whole again1 ,hasten to purge thy heart of every stain4 ,no more from prayer and penitence refrain1 ,but turn unto thy ,god by day and night4 ,,he ,,speaks3 ,my son1 yea1 ,i will send thee aid1 ,bend thou thy steps to me1 be not afraid4 ,no nearer friend than ,i am1 hast thou made1 ,possess thy soul in patience one more night4 ,,from ,,the ,,divan4 ,my thoughts impelled me to the resting-place ,where sleep my parents1 many a friend and brother4 ,i asked them 7no one heard and none replied73 ,do ye forsake me1 too1 oh father1 mother8 ,then from the grave1 without a tongue1 these cried1 ,and showed my own place waiting by their side4 ,,love ,,song ,,of ,,alcharisi4 ,i4 ,the long-closed door1 oh open it again1 send me back once more my fawn that had fled4 ,on the day of our reunion1 thou shalt rest by my side1 there wilt thou shed over me the streams of thy delicious perfume4 ,oh beautiful bride1 what is the form of thy friend1 that thou say to me1 ,release him1 send him away8 ,he is the beautiful-eyed one of ruddy glorious aspect--that is my friend1 him do thou detain4 ,,ii4 ,hail to thee1 ,son of my friend1 the ruddy1 the bright-colored one6 ,hail to thee whose temples are like a pomegranate4 ,hasten to the refuge of thy sister1 and protect the son of ,isaiah against the troops of the ,ammonites4 ,what art thou1 ,o ,beauty1 that thou shouldst inspire love8 that thy voice should ring like the voices of the bells upon the priestly garments8 ,the hour wherein thou desireth my love1 ,i shall hasten to meet thee4 ,softly will ,i drop beside thee like the dew upon ,hermon4 ,,nachum4 ,,spring ,,songs4 ,i4 ,now the dreary winter's over1 ,fled with him are grief and pain1 ,when the trees their bloom recover1 ,then the soul is born again4 ,spikenard blossoms shaking1 ,perfume all the air1 ,and in bud and flower breaking1 ,stands my garden fair4 ,while with swelling gladness blest1 ,heaves my friend's rejoicing breast4 ,oh1 come home1 lost friend of mine1 ,scared from out my tent and land4 ,drink from me the spicy wine1 ,milk and must from out my hand4 ,cares which hovered round my brow1 ,vanish1 while the garden now ,girds itself with myrtle hedges1 ,bright-hued edges ,round it lie4 ,suddenly ,all my sorrows die4 ,see the breathing myrrh-trees blow1 ,aromatic airs enfold me4 ,while the splendor and the glow ,of the walnut-branches hold me4 ,and a balsam-breath is flowing1 ,through the leafy shadows green1 ,on the left the cassia's growing1 ,on the right the aloe's seen4 ,lo1 the clear cup crystalline1 ,in itself a gem of art1 ,ruby-red foams up with wine1 ,sparkling rich with froth and bubble4 ,i forget the want and trouble1 ,buried deep within my heart4 ,where is he who lingered here1 ,but a little while agone8 ,from my homestead he has flown1 ,from the city sped alone1 ,dwelling in the forest drear4 ,oh come again1 to those who wait thee long1 ,and who will greet thee with a choral song6 ,beloved1 kindle bright ,once more thine everlasting light4 ,through thee1 oh cherub with protecting wings1 ,my glory out of darkness springs4 ,,ii4 ,crocus and spikenard blossom on my lawn1 ,the brier fades1 the thistle is withdrawn4 ,behold1 where glass-clear brooks are flowing1 ,the splendor of the myrtle blowing6 ,the garden-tree has doffed her widow's veil1 ,and shines in festal garb1 in verdure pale4 ,the turtle-dove is cooing1 hark6 ,is that the warble of the lark6 ,unto their perches they return again4 ,oh brothers1 carol forth your joyous strain1 ,pour out full-throated ecstasy of mirth1 ,proclaiming the ,lord's glory to the earth4 ,one with a low1 sweet song1 ,one echoing loud and long1 ,chanting the music of a spirit strong4 ,in varied tints the landscape glows4 ,in rich array appears the rose4 ,while the pomegranate's wreath of green1 ,the gauzy red and snow-white blossoms screen4 ,who loves it1 now rejoices for its sake1 ,and those are glad who sleep1 and those who wake4 ,when cool-breathed evening visiteth the world1 ,in flower and leaf the beaded dew is pearled1 ,reviving all that droops at length1 ,and to the languid giving strength4 ,now in the east the shining light behold6 ,the sun has oped a lustrous path of gold4 ,within my narrow garden's greenery1 ,shot forth a branch1 sprang to a splendid tree1 ,then in mine ear the joyous words did ring1 ,from ,jesse's root a verdant branch shall spring4 ,my ,friend has cast ,his eyes upon my grief1 ,according to ,his mercy1 sends relief4 ,hark6 the redemption hour's resounding stroke1 ,for him who bore with patient heart the yoke6 ,a ,,translation ,,and ,,two ,,imitations4 ,i4 ,,donna ,,clara4 7,from the ,german of ,heine7 ,in the evening through her garden ,wanders the ,alcalde's daughter1 ,festal sounds of drum and trumpet ,ring out hither from the ,castle4 ,i am weary of the dances1 ,honeyed words of adulation ,from the knights who still compare me ,to the sun with dainty phrases4 ,yes1 of all things ,i am weary1 ,since ,i first beheld by moonlight ,him1 my cavalier1 whose zither ,nightly draws me to my casement4 ,as he stands so slim and daring1 ,with his flaming eyes that sparkle1 ,and with nobly pallid features1 ,truly1 he ,st4 ,george resembles4 ,thus went ,donna ,clara dreaming1 ,on the ground her eyes were fastened4 ,when she raised them1 lo6 before her ,stood the handsome knightly stranger4 ,pressing hands and whispering passion1 ,these twain wander in the moonlight1 ,gently doth the breeze caress them1 ,the enchanted roses greet them4 ,the enchanted roses greet them1 ,and they glow like ,love's own heralds4 ,tell me1 tell me1 my beloved1 ,wherefore all at once thou blushest8 ,gnats were stinging me1 my darling1 ,and ,i hate these gnats in summer ,e'en as though they were a rabble ,of vile ,jews with long1 hooked noses4 ,heed not gnats nor ,jews1 beloved1 ,spake the knight with fond endearments4 ,from the almond-trees dropped downward ,myriad snowy flakes of blossoms4 ,myriad snowy flakes of blossoms ,shed around them fragrant odors4 ,tell me1 tell me1 my beloved1 ,looks thy heart on me with favor8 ,yes1 ,i love thee1 ,o my darling1 ,and ,i swear it by our ,saviour1 ,whom the accursed ,jews did murder1 ,long ago with wicked malice4 ,heed thou neither ,jews nor ,saviour1 ,spake the knight with fond endearments4 ,far off waved1 as in a vision1 ,gleaming lilies bathed in moonlight4 ,gleaming lilies bathed in moonlight ,seemed to watch the stars above them4 ,tell me1 tell me1 my beloved1 ,didst thou not erewhile swear falsely8 ,naught is false in me1 my darling1 ,e'en as in my veins there floweth ,not a drop of blood that's ,moorish1 ,neither of foul ,jewish current4 ,heed not ,moors nor ,jews1 beloved1 ,spake the knight with fond endearments4 ,then towards a grove of myrtles ,leads he the ,alcalde's daughter4 ,and with ,love's slight subtile meshes1 ,he has trapped her and entangled4 ,brief their words1 but long their kisses1 ,for their hearts are overflowing4 ,what a melting bridal carol ,sings the nightingale1 the pure one4 ,how the fire-flies in the grasses ,trip their sparkling torchlight dances6 ,in the grove the silence deepens1 ,naught is heard save furtive rustling ,of the swaying myrtle branches1 ,and the breathing of the flowers4 ,but the sound of drum and trumpet ,burst forth sudden from the castle4 ,rudely they awaken ,clara1 ,pillowed on her lover's bosom4 ,hark6 they summon me1 my darling6 ,but before we part1 oh tell me1 ,tell me what thy precious name is1 ,which so closely thou hast hidden4 ,then the knight with gentle laughter1 ,kissed the fingers of his ,donna1 ,kissed her lips and kissed her forehead1 ,and at last these words he uttered3 ,i1 ,senora1 your beloved1 ,am the son of the respected1 ,worthy1 erudite ,grand ,rabbi1 ,israel of ,saragossa4 ,the ensemble of the romance is a scene of my own life--only the ,park of ,berlin has become the ,alcalde's garden1 the ,baroness a ,senora1 and myself a ,st4 ,george1 or even an ,apollo4 ,this was only to be the first part of a trilogy1 the second of which shows the hero jeered at by his own child1 who does not know him1 whilst the third discovers this child1 who has become a ,dominican1 and is torturing to the death his ,jewish brethren4 ,the refrain of these two pieces corresponds with that of the first4 ,indeed this little poem was not intended to excite laughter1 still less to denote a mocking spirit4 ,i merely wished1 without any definite purpose1 to render with epic impartiality in this poem an individual circumstance1 and1 at the same time1 something general and universal--a moment in the world's history which was distinctly reflected in my experience1 and ,i had conceived the whole idea in a spirit which was anything rather than smiling but serious and painful1 so much so1 that it was to form the first part of a tragic trilogy4-- ,heine's ,correspondence4 ,guided by these hints1 ,i have endeavored to carry out in the two following original ,ballads the ,poet's first conception4 ,emma ,lazarus4 ,,ii4 ,,don ,,pedrillo4 ,not a lad in ,saragossa ,nobler-featured1 haughtier-tempered1 ,than the ,alcalde's youthful grandson1 ,donna ,clara's boy ,pedrillo4 ,handsome as the ,prince of ,evil1 ,and devout as ,st4 ,ignatius4 ,deft at fence1 unmatched with zither1 ,miniature of knightly virtues4 ,truly an unfailing blessing ,to his pious1 widowed mother1 ,to the beautiful1 lone matron ,who forswore the world to rear him4 ,for her beauty hath but ripened ,in such wise as the pomegranate ,putteth by her crown of blossoms1 ,for her richer crown of fruitage4 ,still her hand is claimed and courted1 ,still she spurns her proudest suitors1 ,doting on a phantom passion1 ,and upon her boy ,pedrillo4 ,like a saint lives ,donna ,clara1 ,first at matins1 last at vespers1 ,half her fortune she expendeth ,buying masses for the needy4 ,visiting the poor afflicted1 ,infinite is her compassion1 ,scorning not the ,moorish beggar1 ,nor the wretched ,jew despising4 ,and--a scandal to the faithful1 ,e'en she hath been known to welcome ,to her castle the young ,rabbi1 ,offering to his tribe her bounty4 ,rarely hath he crossed the threshold1 ,yet the thought that he hath crossed it1 ,burns like poison in the marrow ,of the zealous youth ,pedrillo4 ,by the blessed ,saint ,iago1 ,he hath vowed immortal hatred ,to these circumcised intruders ,who pollute the soil of ,spaniards4 ,seated in his mother's garden1 ,at high noon the boy ,pedrillo ,playeth with his favorite parrot1 ,golden-green with streaks of scarlet4 ,pretty ,dodo1 speak thy lesson1 ,coaxed ,pedrillo--thief and traitor-- ,thief and traitor--croaked the parrot1 ,is the yellow-skirted ,rabbi4 ,and the boy with peals of laughter1 ,stroked his favorite's head of emerald1 ,raised his eyes1 and lo6 before him ,stood the yellow-skirted ,rabbi4 ,in his dark eyes gleamed no anger1 ,no hot flush o'erspread his features4 ',neath his beard his pale lips quivered1 ,and a shadow crossed his forehead4 ,very gentle was his aspect1 ,and his voice was mild and friendly1 ,evil words1 my son1 thou speakest1 ,teaching to the fowls of heaven4 ,in our ,talmud it stands written1 ,thrice curst is the tongue of slander1 ,poisoning also with its victim1 ,him who speaks and him who listens4 ,but no whit abashed1 ,pedrillo1 ,what care ,i for curse of ,talmud8 ',t is no slander to speak evil ,of the murderers of our ,saviour4 ,to your beard ,i will repeat it1 ,that ,i only bide my manhood1 ,to wreak all my lawful hatred1 ,on thyself and on thy people4 ,very gently spoke the ,rabbi1 ,have a care1 my son ,pedrillo1 ,thou art orphaned1 and who knoweth ,but thy father loved this people8 ,think you words like these will touch me8 ,such ,i laugh to scorn1 sir ,rabbi1 ,from high heaven1 my sainted father ,on my deeds will smile in blessing4 ,loyal knight was he and noble1 ,and my mother oft assures me1 ,ne'er she saw so pure a ,christian1 ',t is from him my zeal deriveth4 ,what if he were such another ,as myself who stand before thee8 ,i should curse the hour that bore me1 ,i should die of shame and horror4 ,harsher is thy creed than ours2 ,for had ,i a son as comely ,as ,pedrillo1 ,i would love him1 ,love him were he thrice a ,christian4 ,in his youth my youth renewing ,pamper1 fondle1 die to serve him1 ,only breathing through his spirit-- ,couldst thou not love such a father8 ,faltering spoke the deep-voiced ,rabbi1 ,with white lips and twitching fingers1 ,then in clear1 young1 steady treble1 ,answered him the boy ,pedrillo3 ,at the thought my heart revolteth1 ,all your tribe offend my senses1 ,they're an eyesore to my vision1 ,and a stench unto my nostrils4 ,when ,i meet these unbelievers1 ,with thick lips and eagle noses1 ,thus ,i scorn them1 thus revile them1 ,thus ,i spit upon their garment4 ,and the haughty youth passed onward1 ,bearing on his wrist his parrot1 ,and the yellow-skirted ,rabbi ,with bowed head sought ,donna ,clara4 ,,iii4 ,,fra ,,pedro4 ,golden lights and lengthening shadows1 ,flings the splendid sun declining1 ,o'er the monastery garden ,rich in flower1 fruit and foliage4 ,through the avenue of nut trees1 ,pace two grave and ghostly friars1 ,snowy white their gowns and girdles1 ,black as night their cowls and mantles4 ,lithe and ferret-eyed the younger1 ,black his scapular denoting ,a lay brother2 his companion ,large1 imperious1 towers above him4 ',t is the abbot1 great ,fra ,pedro1 ,famous through all ,saragossa ,for his quenchless zeal in crushing ,heresy amidst his townfolk4 ,handsome still with hood and tonsure1 ,e'en as when the boy ,pedrillo1 ,insolent with youth and beauty1 ,who reviled the gentle ,rabbi4 ,lo1 the level sun strikes sparkles ,from his dark eyes brightly flashing4 ,stern his voice3 ,these too shall perish4 ,i have vowed extermination4 ,tell not me of skill or virtue1 ,filial love or woman's beauty-- ,jews are ,jews1 as serpents serpents1 ,in themselves abomination4 ,earnestly the other pleaded1 ,if my zeal1 thrice reverend master1 ,e'er afforded thee assistance1 ,serving thee as flesh serves spirit1 ,hounding1 scourging1 flaying1 burning1 ,casting into chains or exile1 ,at thy bidding these vile wretches1 ,hear and heed me now1 my master4 ,these be nowise like their brethren1 ,ben ,jehudah is accounted ,saragossa's first physician1 ,loved by colleague as by patient4 ,and his daughter ,donna ,zara ,is our city's pearl of beauty1 ,like the clusters of the vineyard ,droop the ringlets o'er her temples4 ,like the moon in starry heavens ,shines her face among her people1 ,and her form hath all the languor1 ,grace and glamour of the palm-tree4 ,well thou knowest1 thrice reverend master1 ,this is not their first affliction1 ,was it not our ,holy ,office ,whose bribed menials fired their dwelling8 ,ere dawn broke1 the smoke ascended1 ,choked the stairways1 filled the chambers1 ,waked the household to the terror ,of the flaming death that threatened4 ,then the poor bed-ridden mother ,knew her hour had come2 two daughters1 ,twinned in form1 and mind1 and spirit1 ,and their father--who would save them8 ,towards her door sprang ,ben ,jehudah1 ,donna ,zara flew behind him ,round his neck her white arms wreathing1 ,drew him from the burning chamber4 ,there within1 her sister ,zillah ,stirred no limb to shun her torture1 ,held her mother's hand and kissed her1 ,saying1 ',we will go together4' ,this the outer throng could witness1 ,as the flames enwound the dwelling1 ,like a glory they illumined ,awfully the martyred daughter4 ,closer1 fiercer1 round they gathered1 ,not a natural cry escaped her1 ,helpless clung to her her mother1 ,hand in hand they went together4 ,since that ',act of ,faith' three winters ,have rolled by1 yet on the forehead ,of ,jehudah is imprinted ,still the horror of that morning4 ,saragossa hath respected ,his false creed2 a man of sorrows1 ,he hath walked secure among us1 ,and his art repays our sufferance4 ,thus he spoke and ceased4 ,the ,abbot ,lent him an impatient hearing1 ,then outbroke with angry accent1 ,we have borne three years1 thou sayest8 ',t is enough2 my vow is sacred4 ,these shall perish with their brethren4 ,hark ye6 ,in my veins' pure current ,were a single drop found ,jewish1 ,i would shrink not from outpouring ,all my life blood1 but to purge it4 ,shall ,i gentler prove to others8 ,mercy would be sacrilegious4 ,ne'er again at thy soul's peril1 ,speak to me of ,jewish beauty1 ,jewish skill1 or ,jewish virtue4 ,i have said4 ,do thou remember4 ,down behind the purple hillside ,dropped the sun2 above the garden ,rang the ,angelus' clear cadence ,summoning the monks to vespers4 ,,translations ,,from ,,petrarch4 ,,in ,,vita4 ,,lxvii4 ,since thou and ,i have proven many a time ,that all our hope betrays us and deceives1 ,to that consummate good which never grieves ,uplift thy heart1 towards a happier clime4 ,this life is like a field of flowering thyme1 ,amidst the herbs and grass the serpent lives2 ,if aught unto the sight brief pleasure gives1 ',t is but to snare the soul with treacherous lime4 ,so1 wouldst thou keep thy spirit free from cloud1 ,a tranquil habit to thy latest day1 ,follow the few1 and not the vulgar crowd4 ,yet mayest thou urge1 ,brother1 the very way ,thou showest us1 wherefrom thy footsteps proud 7,and never more than now7 so oft did stray4 ,,in ,,vita4 ,,lxxvi4 ,sennuccio1 ,i would have thee know the shame ,that's dealt to me1 and what a life is mine4 ,even as of yore1 ,i struggle1 burn and pine4 ,laura transports me1 ,i am still the same4 ,all meekness here1 all pride she there became1 ,now harsh1 now kind1 now cruel1 now benign2 ,here honor clothed her1 there a grace divine2 ,now gentle1 now disdainful of my flame4 ,here sweetly did she sing2 there sat awhile2 ,there she turned back1 she lingered in this spot4 ,here with her splendid eyes my heart she clove4 ,she uttered there a word1 and here did smile4 ,here she changed color4 ,ah1 in such fond thought1 ,holds me by day and night1 our master ,love4 ,,in ,,vita4 ,,cv4 ,i saw on earth angelic graces beam1 ,celestial beauty in our world below1 ,whose mere remembrance thrills with grief and woe2 ,all ,i see now seems shadow1 smoke and dream4 ,i saw in those twin-lights the tear-drops gleam1 ,those lights that made the sun with envy glow1 ,and from those lips such sighs and words did flow1 ,as made revolve the hills1 stand still the stream4 ,love1 courage1 wit1 pity and pain in one1 ,wept in more dulcet and harmonious strain1 ,than any other that the world has known4 ,so rapt was heaven in the dear refrain1 ,that not a leaf upon the branch was blown1 ,such utter sweetness filled the aerial plain4 ,,in ,,vita4 ,,cix4 ,the ,god of ,love and ,i in wonder stared1 7,ne'er having gazed on miracles ere now17 ,upon my lady's smiling lips and brow1 ,who only with herself may be compared4 ,neath the calm beauty of her forehead bared1 ,those twin stars of my love did burn and flow1 ,no lesser lamps again the path might show ,to the proud lover who by these had fared4 ,oh miracle1 when on the grass at rest1 ,herself a flower1 she would clasp and hold ,a leafy branch against her snow-white breast4 ,what joy to see her1 in the autumn cold1 ,wander alone1 with maiden thoughts possess'd1 ,weaving a garland of dry1 crispy gold6 ,,in ,,morte4 ,,ii4 ,,on ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,cardinal ,,colonna ,,and ,,laura4 ,the noble ,column1 the green ,laurel-tree ,are fall'n1 that shaded once my weary mind4 ,now ,i have lost what ,i shall never find1 ,from ,north to ,south1 from ,red to ,indian ,sea4 ,my double treasure ,death has filched from me1 ,which made me proud and happy midst my kind4 ,nor may all empires of the world combined1 ,nor ,orient gems1 nor gold restore the key4 ,but if this be according to ,fate's will1 ,what may ,i do1 but wander heavy-souled1 ,with ever downcast head1 eyes weeping still8 ,o life of ours1 so lovely to behold1 ,in one brief morn how easily dost thou spill ,that which we toiled for years to gain and hold6 ,,in ,,morte4 ,,xliii4 ,yon nightingale who mourns so plaintively ,perchance his fledglings or his darling mate1 ,fills sky and earth with sweetness1 warbling late1 ,prophetic notes of melting melody4 ,all night1 he1 as it were1 companions me1 ,reminding me of my so cruel fate1 ,mourning no other grief save mine own state1 ,who knew not ,death reigned o'er divinity4 ,how easy 't is to dupe the soul secure6 ,those two fair lamps1 even than the sun more bright1 ,who ever dreamed to see turn clay obscure8 ,but ,fortune has ordained1 ,i now am sure1 ,that ,i1 midst lifelong tears1 should learn aright1 ,naught here can make us happy1 or endure4 ,,in ,,vita4 ,,canzone ,,xi4 ,o waters fresh and sweet and clear1 ,where bathed her lovely frame1 ,who seems the only lady unto me2 ,o gentle branch and dear1 7,sighing ,i speak thy name17 ,thou column for her shapely thighs1 her supple knee2 ,o grass1 ,o flowers1 which she ,swept with her gown that veiled ,the angelic breast unseen2 ,o sacred air serene1 ,whence the divine-eyed ,love my heart assailed1 ,by all of ye be heard ,this my supreme lament1 my dying word4 ,oh1 if it be my fate 7,as ,heaven shall so decree7 ,that ,love shall close for me my weeping eyes1 ,some courteous friend ,i supplicate ,midst these to bury me1 ,whilst my enfranchised spirit homeward flies2 ,less dreadful death shall rise1 ,if ,i may bear this hope ,to that mysterious goal4 ,for ne'er did weary soul ,find a more restful spot in all ,earth's scope1 ,nor in a grave more tranquil could win free ,from outworn flesh and weary limbs to flee4 ,perchance the time shall be ,when to my place of rest1 ,with milder grace my wild fawn shall return ,here where she looked on me ,upon that day thrice blest3 ,then she shall bend her radiant eyes that yearn ,in search of me1 and 7piteous sight67 shall learn ,that ,i1 amidst the stones1 am clay4 ,may love inspire her in such wise1 ,with gentlest breath of sighs1 ,that ,i1 a stony corpse1 shall hear her pray1 ,and force the very skies1 ,that ,i may wipe the tears from her dear eyes4 ,from the fair boughs descended 7,thrice precious memory67 ,upon her lap a shower of fragrant bloom ,amidst that glory splendid1 ,humbly reposed she1 ,attired as with an aureole's golden gloom4 ,some blossoms edged her skirt1 and some ,fell on her yellow curls1 ,like burnished gold and pearls1 ,even so they looked to me upon that day4 ,some on the ground1 some on the river lay1 ,some lightly fluttering above1 ,encircling her1 seemed whispering3 ,here reigns ,love4 ,how many times ,i cried1 ,as holy fear o'ercame1 ,surely this creature sprang from ,paradise1 ,forgetting all beside ,her goddess mien1 her frame1 ,her face1 her words1 her lovely smile1 her eyes4 ,all these did so devise ,to win me from the truth1 alas6 ,that ,i did say and sigh1 ,how came ,i hither1 when and why8 ,deeming myself in heaven1 not where ,i was4 ,henceforth this grassy spot ,i love so much1 peace elsewhere find ,i not4 ,my ,song1 wert thou adorned to thy desire1 ,thou couldst go boldly forth ,and wander from my lips o'er all the earth4 ,,fragment4 ,,canzone ,,xii4 #e4 ,i never see1 after nocturnal rain1 ,the wandering stars move through the air serene1 ,and flame forth 'twixt the dew-fall and the rime1 ,but ,i behold her radiant eyes wherein ,my weary spirit findeth rest from pain2 ,as dimmed by her rich veil1 ,i saw her the first time2 ,the very heaven beamed with the light sublime ,of their celestial beauty2 dewy-wet ,still do they shine1 and ,i am burning yet4 ,now if the rising sun ,i see1 ,i feel the light that hath enamored me4 ,or if he sets1 ,i follow him1 when he ,bears elsewhere his eternal light1 ,leaving behind the shadowy waves of night4 ,,fragment4 ,,trionfo ,d' ,,amore4 ,i know how well ,love shoots1 how swift his flight1 ,how now by force and now by stealth he steals1 ,how he will threaten now1 anon will smite1 ,and how unstable are his chariot wheels4 ,how doubtful are his hopes1 how sure his pain1 ,and how his faithful promise he repeals4 ,how in one's marrow1 in one's vital vein1 ,his smouldering fire quickens a hidden wound1 ,where death is manifest1 destruction plain4 ,in sum1 how erring1 fickle and unsound1 ,how timid and how bold are lovers' days1 ,where with scant sweetness bitter draughts abound4 ,i know their songs1 their sighs1 their usual ways1 ,their broken speech1 their sudden silences4 ,their passing laughter and their grief that stays1 ,i know how mixed with gall their honey is4 ,,fragment4 ,,trionfo ,,della ,,morte4 ,now since nor grief nor fear was longer there1 ,each thought on her fair face was clear to see1 ,composed into the calmness of despair-- ,not like a flame extinguished violently1 ,but one consuming of its proper light4 ,even so1 in peace1 serene of soul1 passed she4 ,even as a lamp1 so lucid1 softly-bright1 ,whose sustenance doth fail by slow degrees1 ,wearing unto the end1 its wonted plight4 ,not pale1 but whiter than the snow one sees ,flaking a hillside through the windless air4 ,like one o'erwearied1 she reposed in peace ,as 't were a sweet sleep filled each lovely eye1 ,the soul already having fled from there4 ,and this is what dull fools have named to die4 ,upon her fair face death itself seemed fair4 ,,translations ,,from ,,alfred ,,de ,,musset4 ,,the ,,may ,,night4 ,,muse4 ,give me a kiss1 my poet1 take thy lyre2 ,the buds are bursting on the wild sweet-briar4 ,to-night the ,spring is born--the breeze takes fire4 ,expectant of the dawn behold the thrush1 ,perched on the fresh branch of the first green bush2 ,give me a kiss1 my poet1 take thy lyre4 ,,poet4 ,how black it looks within the vale6 ,i thought a muffled form did sail ,above the tree-tops1 through the air4 ,it seemed from yonder field to pass1 ,its foot just grazed the tender grass2 ,a vision strange and fair it was4 ,it melts and is no longer there4 ,,muse4 ,my poet1 take thy lyre2 upon the lawn ,night rocks the zephyr on her veiled1 soft breast4 ,the rose1 still virgin1 holds herself withdrawn ,from the winged1 irised wasp with love possessed4 ,hark1 all is hushed4 ,now of thy sweetheart dream2 ,to-day the sunset1 with a lingering beam1 ,caressed the dusky-foliaged linden-grove4 ,all things shall bloom to-night2 great ,nature thrills1 ,her couch with perfume1 passion1 sighs1 she fills1 ,like to the nuptial bed of youthful love4 ,,poet4 ,why throbs my heart so fast1 so low8 ,what sets my seething blood aglow1 ,and fills my sense with vague affright8 ,who raps upon my chamber-door8 ,my lamp's spent ray upon the floor1 ,why does it dazzle me with light8 ,great ,god6 my limbs sink under me6 ,who enters8 who is calling8 none6 ,the clock strikes--,i am all alone-- ,o solitude6 ,o poverty6 ,,muse4 ,my poet1 take thy lyre4 ,youth's living wine ,ferments to-night within the veins divine4 ,my breast is troubled1 stifling with desire1 ,the panting breeze has set my lips afire2 ,o listless child1 behold me1 ,i am fair6 ,our first embrace dost thou so soon forget8 ,how pale thou wast1 when my wing grazed thy hair4 ,into mine arms thou fell'st1 with eyelids wet6 ,oh1 in thy bitter grief1 ,i solaced thee1 ,dying of love1 thy youthful strength outworn4 ,now ,i shall die of hope--oh comfort me6 ,i need thy prayers to live until the morn4 ,,poet4 ,is it thy voice my spirit knows1 ,o darling ,muse6 ,and canst thou be ,my own immortal one8 my rose1 ,sole pure and faithful heart where glows ,a lingering spark of love for me8 ,yes1 it is thou1 with tresses bright1 ',t is thou1 my sister and my bride4 ,i feel amidst the shadowy night1 ,from thy gold gown the rays of light ,within my heart's recesses glide4 ,,muse4 ,my poet1 take thy lyre4 ',t is ,i1 undying1 ,who seeing thee to-night so sad and dumb1 ,like to the mother-bird whose brood is crying1 ,from utmost heaven to weep with thee have come4 ,my friend1 thou sufferest2 a secret woe ,gnaws at thy life1 thou sighest in the night4 ,love visits thee1 such love as mortals know1 ,shadow of gladness1 semblance of delight4 ,rise1 sing to ,god the thoughts that fill thy brain1 ,thy buried pleasures and thy long-past pain4 ,come1 with a kiss1 where unknown regions gleam1 ,awake the mingling echoes of thy days1 ,sing of thy folly1 glory1 joy and praise1 ,be all an unpremeditated dream6 ,let us invent a realm where one forgets1 ,come1 we are all alone1 the world is ours4 ,green ,scotland tawny ,italy offsets2 ,lo1 ,greece my mother1 with her honeyed flowers1 ,argos and ,pteleon with its shrines and groves1 ,celestial ,messa populous with doves2 ,and ,pelion with his shaggy1 changing brow1 ,blue ,titaresus1 and the gulf of steel1 ,whose waves that glass the floating swan1 reveal ,snowy ,camyre to ,oloossone's snow4 ,tell me what golden dreams shall charm our sleep1 ,whence shall be drawn the tears that we shall weep8 ,this morning when thy lids were touched with light1 ,what pensive seraph1 bending kindly near1 ,dropped lilacs from his airy robe of white1 ,and whispered beams of love within thine ear8 ,say1 shall we sing of sadness1 joy or hope8 ,or bathe in blood the settled1 steel-clad ranks8 ,see lovers mount the ladder's silken rope8 ,or fleck the wind with coursers' foaming flanks8 ,or shall we tell whose hand the lamps above1 ,in the celestial mansions1 year by year1 ,kindles with sacred oil of life and love8 ,with ,tarquin shall we cry1 ,come1 night is here6 ,or shall we dive for pearls beneath the seas1 ,or find the wild goats by the alpine trees8 ,bid melancholy gaze upon the skies8 ,follow the huntsman on the upland lawns8 ,the roe uplifts her tearful1 suppliant eyes1 ,her heath awaits her1 and her suckling fawns2 ,he stoops1 he slaughters her1 he flings her heart ,still warm amidst his panting hounds apart4 ,or shall we paint a maid with vermeil cheek1 ,who1 with her page behind1 to vespers fares1 ,beside her mother1 dreamy-eyed and meek1 ,and on her half-oped lips forgets her prayers1 ,trembles midst echoing columns1 hearkening ,to hear her bold knight's clanging spurs outring4 ,or shall we bid the heroes of old ,france ,scale full equipped the battlemented wall1 ,and so revive the simple-strained romance ,their fame inspired our troubadours withal8 ,or shall we clothe soft elegies in white8 ,or bid the man of ,waterloo recite ,his story1 and the crop mown by his art1 ,or ere the herald of eternal night ,on his green mound with fatal wing did smite ,and cross his hands above his iron heart8 ,or shall we gibbet on some satire here ,the name thrice-bought of some pale pamphleteer1 ,who1 hunger-goaded1 from his haunts obscure1 ,dared1 quivering with impotence and spite1 ,insult the hope on ,genius' brow of light1 ,and gnaw the wreath his breath had made impure8 ,the lyre6 the lyre6 ,i can be still no more4 ,upon the breath of spring my pinions fly4 ,the air supports me--from the earth ,i soar1 ,thou weepest--,god has heard--the hour is nigh6 ,,poet4 ,dear sister1 if thou ask but this1 ,from friendly lips a gentle kiss1 ,or one soft tear from kindly eyes1 ,these will ,i gladly give to thee4 ,our love remember tenderly1 ,if thou remountest to the skies4 ,no longer ,i of hope shall sing1 ,of fame or joy1 of love or art1 ,alas1 not even of suffering1 ,my lips are locked--,i lean and cling1 ,to hear the whisper of my heart4 ,,muse4 ,what6 am ,i like the autumn breeze for you1 ,which feeds on tears even to the very grave1 ,for whom all grief is but a drop of dew8 ,o poet1 but one kiss--'t was ,i who gave4 ,the weed ,i fain would root from out this sod ,is thine own sloth--thy grief belongs to ,god4 ,whatever sorrow thy young heart have found1 ,open it well1 this ever-sacred wound ,dealt by dark angels--give thy soul relief4 ,naught makes us nobler than a noble grief4 ,yet deem not1 poet1 though this pain have come1 ,that therefore1 here below1 thou mayst be dumb4 ,best are the songs most desperate in their woe-- ,immortal ones1 which are pure sobs ,i know4 ,when the wave-weary pelican once more1 ,midst evening-vapors1 gains his nest of reeds1 ,his famished brood run forward on the shore ,to see where high above the surge he speeds4 ,as though even now their prey they could destroy1 ,they hasten to their sire with screams of joy1 ,on swollen necks wagging their beaks1 they cry2 ,he slowly wins at last a lofty rock1 ,shelters beneath his drooping wing his flock1 ,and1 a sad fisher1 gazes on the sky4 ,adown his open breast the blood flows there2 ,vainly he searched the ocean's deepest part1 ,the sea was empty and the shore was bare1 ,and for all nourishment he brings his heart4 ,sad1 silent1 on the stone1 he gives his brood ,his father-entrails and his father-blood1 ,lulls with his love sublime his cruel pain1 ,and1 watching on his breast the ruddy stain1 ,swoons at the fatal banquet from excess ,of horror and voluptuous tenderness4 ,sudden amidst the sacrifice divine1 ,outworn with such protracted suffering1 ,he fears his flock may let him live and pine2 ,then up he starts1 expands his mighty wing1 ,beating his heart1 and with a savage cry ,bids a farewell of such funereal tone ,that the scared seabirds from their rock-nests fly1 ,and the late traveller on the beach alone ,commends his soul to ,god--for death floats by4 ,even such1 ,o poet1 is the poet's fate4 ,his life sustains the creatures of a day4 ,the banquets served upon his feasts of state ,are like the pelican's--sublime as they4 ,and when he tells the world of hopes betrayed1 ,forgetfulness and grief1 of love and hate1 ,his music does not make the heart dilate1 ,his eloquence is as an unsheathed blade1 ,tracing a glittering circle in mid-air1 ,while blood drips from the edges keen and bare4 ,,poet4 ,o ,muse1 insatiate soul1 demand ,no more than lies in human power4 ,man writes no word upon the sand ,even at the furious whirlwind's hour4 ,there was a time when joyous youth ,forever fluttered at my mouth1 ,a merry1 singing bird1 just freed4 ,strange martyrdom has since been mine1 ,should ,i revive its slightest sign1 ,at the first note1 my lyre and thine ,would snap asunder like a reed4 ,,the ,,october ,,night4 ,,poet4 ,my haunting grief has vanished like a dream1 ,its floating fading memory seems one ,with those frail mists born of the dawn's first beam1 ,dissolving as the dew melts in the sun4 ,,muse4 ,what ailed thee then1 ,o poet mine2 ,what secret misery was thine1 ,which set a bar 'twixt thee and me8 ,alas1 ,i suffer from it still2 ,what was this grief1 this unknown ill1 ,which ,i have wept so bitterly8 ,,poet4 ',t was but a common grief1 well known of men4 ,but1 look you1 when our heavy heart is sore1 ,fond wretches that we are6 we fancy then ,that sorrow never has been felt before4 ,,muse4 ,there cannot be a common grief1 ,save that of common souls2 my friend1 ,speak out1 and give thy heart relief1 ,of this grim secret make an end4 ,confide in me1 and have no fear4 ,the ,god of silence1 pale1 austere1 ,is younger brother unto death4 ,even as we mourn we're comforted1 ,and oft a single word is said ,which from remorse delivereth4 ,,poet4 ,if ,i were bound this day to tell my woe1 ,i know not by what name to call my pain1 ,love1 folly1 pride1 experience--neither know ,if one in all the world might thereby gain4 ,yet ne'ertheless ,i'll voice the tale to thee1 ,alone here by the hearth4 ,but do thou take ,this lyre--come nearer--so2 my memory ,shall gently with the harmonies awake4 ,,muse4 ,but first1 or ere thy grief thou say1 ,my poet1 art thou healed thereof8 ,bethink thee1 thou must speak to-day1 ,as free from hatred as from love4 ,for man has given the holy name ,of consolation unto me4 ,make me no partner of thy shame1 ,in passions that have ruined thee4 ,,poet4 ,of my old wounds ,i am so sound and whole1 ,almost ,i doubt they were1 nor find their trace2 ,and in the passes where ,i risked my soul1 ,in mine own stead ,i see a stranger's face4 ,muse1 have no fear1 we both may yield awhile ,to this first inspiration of regret4 ,oh1 it is good to weep1 't is good to smile1 ,remembering sorrows we might else forget4 ,,muse4 ,as the watchful mother stoops ,o'er her infant's cradled rest1 ,so my trembling spirit droops ,o'er this long-closed1 silent breast4 ,speak6 ,i touch the lyre's sweet strings1 ,feebly1 plaintively it sings1 ,with thy voice set free at last4 ,while athwart a radiant beam1 ,like a light1 enchanted dream1 ,float the shadows of the past4 ,,poet4 ,my days of work6 sole days whereon ,i lived6 ,o thrice-beloved solitude6 ,now ,god be praised1 once more ,i have arrived ,in this old study bare and rude4 ,these oft-deserted walls1 this shabby den1 ,my faithful lamp1 my dusty chair1 ,my palace1 my small world ,i greet again1 ,my ,muse1 immortal1 young and fair4 ,thank ,god6 we twain may sing here side by side1 ,i will reveal to thee my thought4 ,thou shalt know all1 to thee ,i will confide ,the evil by a woman wrought4 ,a woman1 yes6 7mayhap1 poor friends1 ye guess1 ,or ever ,i have said the word67 ,to such a one my soul was bound1 no less ,than is the vassal to his lord4 ,detested yoke6 within me to destroy ,the vigor and the bloom of youth6 ,yet only through my love ,i caught1 in sooth1 ,a fleeting glimpse of joy4 ,when by the brook1 beneath the evening-star1 ,on silver sands we twain would stray1 ,the white wraith of the aspen tree afar ,pointed for us the dusky way4 ,once more within the moonlight do ,i see ,that fair form sink upon my breast2 ,no more of that6 ,alas1 ,i never guessed ,whither my fate was leading me4 ,the angry gods some victim craved1 ,i fear1 ,at that ill-omened time1 ,since they have punished me as for a crime1 ,for trying to be happy here6 ,,muse4 ,a vision of remembered joy ,reveals itself to thee once more2 ,why fearest thou to live it o'er1 ,retracing it without annoy8 ,wouldst thou confide the truth to me1 ,and yet those golden days disprove8 ,if fate has been unkind to thee1 ,do thou no less1 my friend1 than she1 ,and smile upon thine early love4 ,,poet4 ,rather ,i dare to smile upon my woe4 ,muse1 ,i have said it1 ,i would fain review ,my crosses1 visions1 frenzy1--calmly show ,the hour1 place1 circumstance1 in order due4 ',t was an autumnal evening1 ,i recall1 ,chill1 gloomy2 this one brings it back again4 ,the murmuring wind's monotonous rise and fall ,lulled sombre care within my weary brain4 ,i waited at the casement for my love1 ,and listening in the darkness black as death1 ,such melancholy did my spirit move ,that all at once ,i doubted of her faith4 ,the street wherein ,i dwelt was lonely1 poor1 ,lantern in hand1 at times1 a shade passed by1 ,when the gale whistled through the half-oped door4 ,one seemed to hear afar a human sigh4 ,i know not to what omen1 sooth to say1 ,my superstitious spirit fell a prey4 ,vainly ,i summoned courage--coward-like ,i shuddered when the clock began to strike4 ,she did not come6 ,alone1 with downcast head1 ,i stared at street and walls like one possessed4 ,how may ,i tell the insensate passion bred ,by that inconstant woman in my breast6 ,i loved but her in all the world4 ,one day ,apart from her seemed worse than death to me4 ,yet ,i remember how ,i did essay ,that cruel night to snap my chain1 go free4 ,i named her traitress1 serpent1 o'er and o'er1 ,recalled the anguish suffered for her sake1 ,alas6 her fatal beauty rose once more1 ,what grief1 what torture in my heart to wake6 ,at last morn broke2 with waiting vain outworn1 ,i fell asleep against the casement there4 ,i oped my lids upon the day new born1 ,my dazzled glance swam in the radiant air4 ,then on the outer staircase1 suddenly1 ,i heard soft steps ascend the narrow flight4 ,save me1 ,great ,god6 ,i see her--it is she6 ,whence com'st thou8 speak1 where hast thou been this night8 ,what dost thou seek8 who brings thee here thus late8 ,where has this lovely form reclined till day1 ,while ,i alone must watch and weep and wait8 ,where1 and on whom hast thou been smiling1 say6 ,out1 insolent traitress6 canst thou come accurst1 ,and offer to my kiss thy lips' ripe charms8 ,what cravest thou8 ,by what unhallowed thirst ,darest thou allure me to thy jaded arms8 ,avaunt1 begone6 ghost of my mistress dead1 ,back to thy grave6 avoid the morning's beam6 ,be my lost youth no more remembered6 ,and when ,i think of thee1 ,i'll know it was a dream6 ,,muse4 ,be calm6 ,i beg thee1 ,i implore6 ,i shudder1 hearing of thy pain4 ,o dearest friend1 thy wound once more ,is opening to bleed again4 ,is it so very deep1 alas6 ,how slowly do the traces pass ,of this world's troubles6 ,thou1 my son1 ,forget her6 let thy memory shun ,even to this woman's very name1 ,my pitying lips refuse to frame4 ,,poet4 ,shame upon her1 who first ,treason and falsehood taught6 ,with grief and wrath accurst1 ,who set my brain distraught4 ,shame1 woman baleful-eyed1 ,whose fatal love entombed ,in shadows of thy pride ,my ,april ere it bloomed4 ,it was thy voice1 thy smile1 ,thy poisoned glances bright1 ,which taught me to revile ,the semblance of delight4 ,thy grace of girlish years ,murdered my peace1 my sleep4 ,if ,i lose faith in tears1 ',t is that ,i saw thee weep4 ,i yielded to thy power ,a child's simplicity4 ,as to the dawn the flower1 ,so oped my heart to thee4 ,doubtless this helpless heart ,was thine without defence4 ,were 't not the better part ,to spare its innocence8 ,shame6 thou who didst beget ,my earliest1 youngest woe4 ,the tears are streaming yet ,which first thou madest flow4 ,quenchless this source is found ,which thou hast first unsealed4 ,it issues from a wound ,that never may be healed4 ,but in the bitter wave ,i shall be clean restored1 ,and from my soul shall lave ,thy memory abhorred6 ,,muse4 ,poet1 enough6 ,though but one single day ,lasted thy dream of her who faithless proved1 ,that day insult not2 whatsoe'er thou say1 ,respect thy love1 if thou would be beloved4 ,if human weakness find the task too great ,of pardoning the wrongs by others done1 ,at least the torture spare thyself of hate1 ,in place of pardon seek oblivion4 ,the dead lie peaceful in the earth asleep1 ,so our extinguished passions too1 should rest4 ,dust are those relics also2 let us keep ,our hands from violence to their ashes blest4 ,why1 in this story of keen pain1 my friend1 ,wilt thou refuse naught but a dream to see8 ,does ,nature causeless act1 to no wise end8 ,think'st thou a heedless ,god afflicted thee8 ,mayhap the blow thou weepest was to save4 ,child1 it has oped thy heart to seek relief2 ,sorrow is lord to man1 and man a slave1 ,none knows himself till he has walked with grief1-- ,a cruel law1 but none the less supreme1 ,old as the world1 yea1 old as destiny4 ,sorrow baptizes us1 a fatal scheme2 ,all things at this sad price we still must buy4 ,the harvest needs the dew to make it ripe1 ,and man to live1 to feel1 has need of tears4 ,joy chooses a bruised plant to be her type1 ,that1 drenched with rain1 still many a blossom bears4 ,didst thou not say this folly long had slept8 ,art thou not happy1 young1 a welcome guest8 ,and those light pleasures that give life its zest1 ,how wouldst thou value if thou hadst not wept8 ,when1 lying in the sunlight on the grass1 ,freely thou drink'st with some old friend--confess1 ,wouldst thou so cordially uplift thy glass1 ,hadst thou not weighed the worth of cheerfulness8 ,would flowers be so dear unto thy heart1 ,the verse of ,petrarch1 warblings of the bird1 ,shakespeare and ,nature1 ,angelo and ,art1 ,but that thine ancient sobs therein thou heard8 ,couldst thou conceive the ineffable peace of heaven1 ,night's silence1 murmurs of the wave that flows1 ,if sleeplessness and fever had not driven ,thy thought to yearn for infinite repose8 ,by a fair woman's love art thou not blest8 ,when thou dost hold and clasp her hand in thine1 ,does not the thought of woes that once possessed1 ,make all the sweeter now her smile divine8 ,wander ye not together1 thou and she1 ,midst blooming woods1 on sands like silver bright8 ,does not the white wraith of the aspen-tree ,in that green palace1 mark the path at night8 ,and seest thou not1 within the moon's pale ray1 ,her lovely form sink on thy breast again8 ,if thou shouldst meet with ,fortune on thy way1 ,wouldst thou not follow singing1 in her train8 ,what hast thou to regret8 ,immortal ,hope ,is shaped anew in thee by ,sorrow's hand4 ,why hate experience that enlarged thy scope8 ,why curse the pain that made thy soul expand8 ,oh pity her6 so false1 so fair to see1 ,who from thine eyes such bitter tears did press1 ,she was a woman4 ,god revealed to thee1 ,through her1 the secret of all happiness4 ,her task was hard2 she loved thee1 it may be1 ,yet must she break thy heart1 so fate decreed4 ,she knew the world1 she taught it unto thee1 ,another reaps the fruit of her misdeed4 ,pity her6 dreamlike did her love disperse1 ,she saw thy wound--nor could thy pain remove4 ,all was not falsehood in those tears of hers-- ,pity her1 though it were1--for thou canst love6 ,,poet4 ,true6 ,hate is blasphemy4 ,with horror's thrill1 ,i start1 ,this sleeping snake to see1 ,uncoil within my heart4 ,oh ,goddess1 hear my cries1 ,my vow to thee is given1 ,by my beloved's blue eyes1 ,and by the azure heaven1 ,by yonder spark of flame1 ,yon trembling pearl1 the star ,that beareth ,venus' name1 ,and glistens from afar1 ,by ,nature's glorious scheme1 ,the infinite grace of ,god1 ,the planet's tranquil beam ,that cheers the traveler's road1 ,the grass1 the water-course1 ,woods1 fields with dew impearled1 ,the quenchless vital force1 ,the sap of all the world1-- ,i banish from my heart ,this reckless passion's ghost1 ,mysterious shade1 depart6 ,in the dark past be lost6 ,and thou whom once ,i met ,as friend1 while thou didst live1 ,the hour when ,i forget1 ,i likewise should forgive4 ,let me forgive6 ,i break ,the long-uniting spell4 ,with a last tear1 oh take1 ,take thou1 a last farewell4 ,now1 gold-haired1 pensive ,muse1 ,on to our pleasures6 ,sing-- ,some joyous carol choose1 ,as in the dear old ,spring4 ,mark1 how the dew-drenched lawn ,scents the auroral hour4 ,waken my love with dawn1 ,and pluck her garden's flower4 ,immortal nature1 see6 ,casts slumber's veil away4 ,new born with her are we ,in morning's earliest ray4 ,,notes ,,to ,,epistle ,,of ,,joshua ,,ibn ,,vives ,,of ,,allorqui4 ,the life and character of ,paulus de ,santa ,maria are thus described by ,dr4 ,graetz3-- ,among the ,jews baptized in #acia1 no other wrought so much harm to his race as the ,rabbi ,solomon ,levi of ,burgos1 known to ,christians as ,paulus ,burgensis1 or de ,santa ,maria 7born about #acea-eb1 died #adce7 who rose to very high ecclesiastical and political rank4444 ,he had no philosophical culture2 on the contrary1 as a ,jew1 he had been extremely devout1 observing scrupulously all the rites1 and regarded as a pillar of ,judaism in his own circle4444 ,possessed by ambition and vanity1 the synagogue where he had passed a short time in giving and receiving instruction1 appeared to him too narrow and restricted a sphere4 ,he longed for a bustling activity1 aimed at a position at court1 in whatever capacity1 began to live on a grand scale1 maintained a sumptuous equipage1 a spirited team1 and a numerous retinue of servants4 ,as his affairs brought him into daily contact with ,christians and entangled him in religious discussions1 he studied ecclesiastical literature in order to display his erudition4 ,the bloody massacre of #acia robbed him of all hope of reaching eminence as a ,jew1 in his fortieth year1 and he abruptly resolved to be baptized4 ,the lofty degree of dignity which he afterwards attained in ,church and ,state1 may even then have floated alluringly before his mind4 ,in order to profit by his apostasy1 the convert ,paulus de ,santa ,maria gave out that he had voluntarily embraced ,christianity1 the theological writings of the ,scholiast ,thomas of ,aquinas having taken hold of his inmost convictions4 ,the ,jews1 however1 mistrusted his credulity1 and knowing him well1 they ascribed this step to his ambition and his thirst for fame4 ,his family1 consisting of a wife and son1 renounced him when he changed his faith4444 ,he studied theology in the ,university of ,paris1 and then visited the papal court of ,avignon1 where ,cardinal ,pedro de ,juna had been elected papal antagonist to ,benedict ,,xiii4 of ,rome4 ,the church feud and the schism between the two ,popes offered the most favorable opportunity for intrigues and claims4 ,paulus1 by his cleverness1 his zeal1 and his eloquence1 won the favor of the ,pope1 who discerned in him a useful tool4 ,thus he became successively ,archdeacon of ,trevinjo1 ,canon of ,seville1 ,bishop of ,cartagena1 ,chancellor of ,castile1 and ,privy ,councillor to ,king ,henry ,,iii4 of ,spain4 ,with tongue and pen he attacked ,judaism1 and ,jewish literature provided him with the necessary weapons4 ,intelligent ,jews rightly divined in this convert to ,christianity their bitterest enemy1 and entered into a contest with him4444 ,the campaign against the malignity of ,paul de ,santa ,maria was opened by a young man who had formerly sat at his feet1 ,joshua ben ,joseph ,ibn ,vives1 from the town of ,lorca or ,allorqui1 a physician and ,arabic scholar4 ,in an epistle written in a tone of humility as from a docile pupil to a revered master1 he deals his apostate teacher heavy blows1 and under the show of doubt he shatters the foundations of ,christianity4 ,he begins by saying that the apostasy of his beloved teacher to whom his loyal spirit had formerly clung1 has amazed him beyond measure and aroused in him many serious reflections4 ,he can only conceive four possible motives for such a surprising step4 ,either ,paulus has been actuated by ambition1 love of wealth1 pomp1 and the satisfaction of the senses1 or else by doubt of the truth of ,judaism upon philosophic grounds1 and has renounced therefore the religion which afforded him so little freedom and security2 or else he has foreseen through the latest cruel persecutions of the ,jews in ,spain1 the total extinction of the race2 or1 finally1 he may have become convinced of the truth of ,christianity4 ,the writer enters therefore into an examination based upon his acquaintance with the character of his former master1 as to which of these four motives is most likely to have occasioned the act4 ,he cannot believe that ambition and covetousness prompted it1 ,for ,i remember when you used to be surrounded by wealth and attendants1 you sighed regretfully for your previous humble station1 for your retired life and communion with wisdom1 and regarded your actual brilliant position as an unsatisfactory sham happiness4 ,neither can ,allorqui admit that ,paulus had been disturbed by philosophic scepticism1 for to the day of his baptism he had observed all the ,jewish customs and had only accepted that little kernel of philosophy which accords with faith1 always rejecting the pernicious outward shell4 ,he must also discard the theory that the sanguinary persecution of the ,jews could have made ,paulus despair of the possible continuation of the ,jewish race1 for only a small portion of the ,jews dwelt among ,christians1 while the majority lived in ,asia and enjoyed a certain independence4 ,there remains only the conclusion that ,paulus has tested the new dogmas and found them sufficient4444 ,allorqui therefore begs him to communicate his convictions and vanquish his pupil's doubts concerning ,christianity4 ,instead of the general spread of divine doctrine and everlasting peace which the prophets had associated with the advent of the ,messiah1 only dissension and war reigned on earth4 ,indeed1 after ,jesus' appearance1 frightful wars had but increased4444 ,and even if ,allorqui conceded the ,messiahship of ,jesus1 the ,immaculate ,conception1 the ,resurrection1 and all incomprehensible miracles1 he could not reconcile himself to the idea of ,god becoming a man4 ,every enlightened conception of the ,deity was at variance with it4 ,page #gg et seq4 ,volume #h1 ,second half1 ,graetz' ,history of the ,jews4 ,marrano44--,see ,verse xix41 ,line #gth of ,epistle4 ,the enforced recipients of baptism who remained in ,spain formed a peculiar class1 outwardly ,christians1 inwardly ,jews4 ,they might have been called ,jewish-,christians4 ,they were looked upon with suspicion by the ,christian population1 and shunned with a still more intense hatred by the loyal ,jews who gave them the name of ,marranos1 the accursed4 ,page #gc4 ,master1 if thou to thy prides' goal should come1 ,where wouldst thou throne--at ,avignon or ,rome8 ,verse xxviii4 #g1 #h4 ,this sentence occurs in another ,epistle to ,paulus by ,profiat ,duran4 ,verses #bi and #cj are paraphrases from an epistle to ,paulus by ,chasdai ,crescas4 ,these are burning questions1 from which the fire of the stake may be kindled4 ,christianity gives itself out as a new revelation in a certain sense completing and improving ,judaism4 ,but the revelation has so little efficacy1 that in the prolonged schism in the ,church1 a new divine message is already needed to scatter the dangerous errors4 ,two ,popes and their partisans fulminate against each other bulls of excommunication and condemn each other to profoundest hell4 ,where is the truth and certainty of revelation8 ,graetz' ,history of the ,jews4