An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning's Poetry Part 54

5.

Aaron's asleep--shove hip to haunch, Or somebody deal him a dig in the paunch!

Look at the purse with the ta.s.sel and k.n.o.b, And the gown with the angel and thingumbob!

What's he at, quotha? reading his text!

Now you've his curtsey--and what comes next?

6.

See to our converts--you doomed black dozen-- No stealing away--nor cog nor cozen!

You five, that were thieves, deserve it fairly; You seven, that were beggars, will live less sparely; You took your turn and dipped in the hat, Got fortune--and fortune gets you; mind that!

7.

Give your first groan--compunction's at work; And soft! from a Jew you mount to a Turk.

Lo, Micah,--the selfsame beard on chin He was four times already converted in!

Here's a knife, clip quick--it's a sign of grace-- Or he ruins us all with his hanging-face.

8.

Whom now is the bishop a-leering at?

I know a point where his text falls pat.

I'll tell him to-morrow, a word just now Went to my heart and made me vow To meddle no more with the worst of trades: Let somebody else play his serenades!

9.

Groan all together now, whee--hee--hee!

It's a-work, it's a-work, ah, woe is me!

It began, when a herd of us, picked and placed, Were spurred through the Corso, stripped to the waist; Jew brutes, with sweat and blood well spent To usher in worthily Christian Lent.

10.

It grew, when the hangman entered our bounds, Yelled, p.r.i.c.ked us out to his church like hounds: It got to a pitch, when the hand indeed Which gutted my purse, would throttle my creed: And it overflows, when, to even the odd, Men I helped to their sins, help me to their G.o.d.

11.

But now, while the scapegoats leave our flock, And the rest sit silent and count the clock, Since forced to muse the appointed time On these precious facts and truths sublime,-- Let us fitly employ it, under our breath, In saying Ben Ezra's Song of Death.

12.

For Rabbi Ben Ezra, the night he died, Called sons and sons' sons to his side, And spoke, "This world has been harsh and strange; Something is wrong: there needeth a change.

But what, or where? at the last or first?

In one point only we sinned, at worst.

-- St. 12. Rabbi Ben Ezra: see biographical sketch subjoined to the Argument of the Monologue ent.i.tled 'Rabbi Ben Ezra'.

13.

"The Lord will have mercy on Jacob yet, And again in his border see Israel set.

When Judah beholds Jerusalem, The stranger-seed shall be joined to them: To Jacob's house shall the Gentiles cleave, So the Prophet saith and his sons believe.

14.

"Ay, the children of the chosen race Shall carry and bring them to their place: In the land of the Lord shall lead the same, Bondsmen and handmaids. Who shall blame, When the slaves enslave, the oppressed ones o'er The oppressor triumph for evermore!

15.

"G.o.d spoke, and gave us the word to keep: Bade never fold the hands nor sleep 'Mid a faithless world,--at watch and ward, Till Christ at the end relieve our guard.

By his servant Moses the watch was set: Though near upon c.o.c.k-crow, we keep it yet.

16.

"Thou! if thou wast he, who at mid-watch came, By the starlight, naming a dubious name!

And if, too heavy with sleep--too rash With fear--O thou, if that martyr-gash Fell on thee coming to take thine own, And we gave the Cross, when we owed the Throne--

17.

"Thou art the Judge. We are bruised thus.

But, the Judgment over, join sides with us!

Thine too is the cause! and not more thine Than ours, is the work of these dogs and swine, Whose life laughs through and spits at their creed, Who maintain thee in word, and defy thee in deed!

18.

"We withstood Christ then? Be mindful how At least we withstand Barabbas now!

Was our outrage sore? But the worst we spared, To have called these--Christians, had we dared!

Let defiance to them pay mistrust of thee, And Rome make amends for Calvary!

19.

"By the torture, prolonged from age to age, By the infamy, Israel's heritage, By the Ghetto's plague, by the garb's disgrace, By the badge of shame, by the felon's place, By the branding-tool, the b.l.o.o.d.y whip, And the summons to Christian fellows.h.i.+p,--

-- St. 19. Ghetto: the Jews' quarter in Rome, Venice, and other cities.

The name is supposed to be derived from the Hebrew 'ghet', meaning division, separation, divorce.