The Poems of Emma Lazarus Volume II Part 9

Ambition first! I find no fleck thereof In all thy clean soul. What! could glory, gold, Or sated senses lure thy lofty love?

No purple cloak to shield thee from the cold, No jeweled sign to flicker thereabove, And dazzle men to homage--joys untold Of spiritual treasure, grace divine, Alone (so saidst thou) coveting for thine!

X.

I saw thee mount with deprecating air, Step after step, unto our Jewish throne Of supreme dignity, the Rabbi's chair; Shrinking from public honors thrust upon Thy meek desert, regretting even there The placid habit of thy life foregone; Silence obscure, vast peace and austere days Pa.s.sed in wise contemplation, prayer, and praise.

XI.

One less than thou had ne'er known such regret.

How must thou suffer, who so lov'st the shade, In Fame's full glare, whom one stride more shall set Upon the Papal seat! I stand dismayed, Familiar with thy fearful soul, and yet Half glad, perceiving modest worth repaid Even by the Christians! Could thy soul deflect?

No, no, thrice no! Ambition I reject!

XII.

Next doubt. Could doubt have swayed thee, then I ask, How enters doubt within the soul of man?

Is it a door that opens, or a mask That falls? and Truth's resplendent face we scan.

Nay, 't is a creeping, small, blind worm, whose task Is gnawing at Faith's base; the whole vast plan Rots, crumbles, eaten inch by inch within, And on its ruins falsehood springs and sin.

XIII.

But thee no doubt confused, no problems vexed.

Thy father's faith for thee proved bright and sweet.

Thou foundst no rite superfluous, no text Obscure; the path was straight before thy feet.

Till thy baptismal day, thou, unperplexed By foreign dogma, didst our prayers repeat, Honor the G.o.d of Israel, fast and feast, Even as thy people's wont, from first to least.

XIV.

Yes, Doubt I likewise must discard. Not sleek, Full-faced, erect of head, men walk, when doubt Writhes at their entrails; pinched and lean of cheek, With brow pain-branded, thou hadst strayed about As midst live men a ghost condemned to seek That soul he may nor live nor die without.

No doubts the font washed from thee, thou didst glide From creed to creed, complete, sane-souled, clear-eyed.

XV.

Thy pardon, Master, if I dare sustain The thesis thou couldst entertain a fear.

I would but rout thine enemies, who feign Ign.o.ble impulse prompted thy career.

I will but weigh the chances and make plain To Envy's self the monstrous jest appear.

Though time, place, circ.u.mstance confirmed in seeming, One word from thee should frustrate all their scheming.

XVI.

Was Israel glad in Seville on the day Thou didst renounce him? Then mightst thou indeed Snap finger at whate'er thy slanderers say.

Lothly must I admit, just then the seed Of Jacob chanced upon a grievous way.

Still from the wounds of that red year we bleed.

The curse had fallen upon our heads--the sword Was whetted for the chosen of the Lord.

XVII.

There where we flourished like a fruitful palm, We were uprooted, spoiled, lopped limb from limb.

A bolt undreamed of out of heavens calm, So cracked our doom. We were destroyed by him Whose hand since childhood we had clasped. With balm Our head had been anointed, at the brim Our cup ran over--now our day was done, Our blood flowed free as water in the sun.

XVIII.

Midst the four thousand of our tribe who held Glad homes in Seville, never a one was spared, Some slaughtered at their hearthstones, some expelled To Moorish slavery. Cunningly ensnared, Baited and trapped were we; their fierce monks yelled And thundered from our Synagogues, while flared The Cross above the Ark. Ah, happiest they Who fell unconquered martyrs on that day!