The Poems of Emma Lazarus Volume II Part 15

Such terrors seem remote as Egypt's plagues.

I warrant you our Landgrave dare not harry Such creditors as we. See, here comes one, The greatest and most liberal of them all-- Susskind von Orb.

SUSSKIND VON ORB, LIEBHAID, and REUBEN enter, all pa.s.s across the stage, and disappear within the Synagogue.

I'd barter my whole fortune, And yours to boot, that's thrice the bulk of mine, For half the bonds he holds in Frederick's name.

The richest merchant in Thuringia, he-- The poise of his head would tell it, knew we not.

How has his daughter leaped to womanhood!

I mind when she came toddling by his hand, But yesterday--a flax-haired child--to-day Her brow is level with his pompous chin.

NAPHTALI.

How fair she is! Her hair has kept its gold Untarnished still. I trace not either parent In her face, clean cut as a gem.

BARUCH.

Her mother Was far-off kin to me, and I might pa.s.s, I'm told, unguessed in Christian garb. I know A pretty secret of that scornful face.

It lures high game to Nordhausen.

NAPHTALI.

Baruch, I marvel at your prompt credulity.

The Prince of Meissen and Liebhaid von Orb!

A jest for gossips and--Look, look, he comes!

BARUCH.

Who's that, the Prince?

NAPHTALI.

Nay, dullard, the old man, The Rabbi of Chinon. Ah! his stout staff, And that brave creature's strong young hand suffice Scarcely to keep erect his tottering frame.

Emaciate-lipped, with cavernous black eyes Whose inward visions do eclipse the day, Seems he not one re-risen from the grave To yield the secret?

Enter RABBI JACOB, and RABBI CRESSELIN led by CLAIRE. They walk across the stage, and disappear in the Synagogue.

BARUCH (exaltedly).

Blessed art thou, O Lord, King of the Universe, who teachest wisdom To those who fear thee!

NAPHTALI.

Haste we in. The star Of Sabbath dawns.

BARUCH.

My flesh is still a-creep From the strange gaze of those wide-rolling orbs.

Didst note, man, how they fixed me? His lean cheeks, As wan as wax, were bloodless; how his arms Stretched far beyond the flowing sleeve and showed Gaunt, palsied wrists, and hands blue-tipped with death!

Well, I have seen a sage of Israel.

[They enter the Synagogue. Scene closes.]

SCENE II.

The Synagogue crowded with worshippers. Among the women in the Gallery are discovered LIEBHAID VON ORB and CLAIRE CRESSELIN.

Below, among the men, SUSSKIND VON ORB and REUBEN. At the Reader's Desk, RABBI JACOB. Fronting the audience under the Ark of the Covenant, stands a high desk, behind which is seen the white head of an old man bowed in prayer.

BARUCH and NAPHTALI enter and take their seats.

BARUCH.

Think you he speaks before the service?

NAPHTALI.

Yea.

Lo, phantom-like the towering patriarch!

[RABBI CRESSELIN slowly rises beneath the Ark.]

RABBI CRESSELIN.

Woe unto Israel! woe unto all Abiding 'mid strange peoples! Ye shall be Cut off from that land where ye made your home.

I, Cresselin of Chinon, have traveled far, Thence where my fathers dwelt, to warn my race, For whom the fire and stake have been prepared.

Our brethren of Verdun, all over France, Are burned alive beneath the Goyim's torch.

What terrors have I witnessed, ere my sight Was mercifully quenched! In Gascony, In Savoy, Piedmont, round the garden sh.o.r.es Of tranquil Leman, down the beautiful Rhine, At Lindau, Costnitz, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Everywhere torture, smoking Synagogues, Carnage, and burning flesh. The lights shine out Of Jewish virtue, Jewish truth, to star The sanguine field with an immortal blazon.

The venerable Mar-Isaac in Cologne, Sat in his house at prayer, nor lifted lid From off the sacred text, while all around The fanatics ran riot; him they seized, Haled through the streets, with prod of stick and spike Fretted his wrinkled flesh, plucked his white beard.

Dragged him with gibes into their Church, and held A Crucifix before him. "Know thy Lord!"

He spat thereon; he was pulled limb from limb.

I saw--G.o.d, that I might forget!--a man Leap in the Loire, with his fair, stalwart son, A-bloom with youth, and midst the stream unsheathe A poniard, sheathing it in his boy's heart, While he p.r.o.nounced the blessing for the dead.

"Amen!" the lad responded as he sank, And the white water darkened as with wine.

I saw--but no! You are glutted, and my tongue, Blistered, refuseth to narrate more woe.

I have known much sorrow. When it pleased the Lord To afflict us with the horde of Pastoureaux, The rabble of armed herdsmen, peasants, slaves, Men-beasts of burden--coa.r.s.e as the earth they tilled, Who like an inundation deluged France To drown our race--my heart held firm, my faith Shook not upon her rock until I saw, Smit by G.o.d's beam, the big black cloud dissolve.

Then followed with their scythes, spades, clubs, and banners Flaunting the Cross, the hosts of Armleder, From whose fierce wounds we scarce are healed to-day.

Yet do I say the cup of bitterness That Israel has drained is but a draught Of cordial, to the cup that is prepared.

The Black Death and the Brothers of the Cross, These are our foes--and these are everywhere.

I who am blind see ruin in their wake; Ye who have eyes and limbs, arise and flee!

To-morrow the Flagellants will be here.

G.o.d's angel visited my sleep and spake: "Thy Jewish kin in the Thuringian town Of Nordhausen shall be swept off from earth, Their elders and their babes--consumed with fire.

Go summon Israel to flight--take this As sign that I, who call thee, am the Lord, Thine eyes shalt be struck blind till thou hast spoken."

Then darkness fell upon my mortal sense, But light broke o'er my soul, and all was clear, And I have journeyed hither with my child O'er mount and river, till I have announced The message of the Everlasting G.o.d.

[Sensation in the Synagogue.]

RABBI JACOB.

Father, have mercy! when wilt thou have done With rod and scourge? Beneath thy children's feet Earth splits, fire springs. No rest, no rest! no rest,

A VOICE.

Look to the women! Marianne swoons!