Classic Poem

And in the square arose the king's great home,
The palace of the Lord Bel-shar-uzzur,
A miracle, a wonder, a delight,
Guarded by forms majestic, and the brows
Of puissant gods, and bulls with human heads,
Wingéd like eagles, aye, and figures strange,
Erect or couchant, monsters carved in stone,
In gold, in iron, in agate and in wood,
Emblems sublime, a tribute to the gods!
Lo! there were many carvings on the walls
In high relief, with clarity of tints;
Memorials of the triumphs of the kings
Here were set forth so that all eyes might see
The rare presentment of the chase's joys,
And all the stern vicissitudes of war;
And, in artistic chaos, on all sides
Were figures of grim horsemen, bulls and boars,
With wounded lions and fleet-footed stags
Running by rivers, towns and arméd towers,
And with them there were chariots and slaves,
And many forms that strangers marveled at.
Above a hundred stately pillars rose,
Supporting painted chambers firmly roofed
With polished cedars crusted o'er with gold,
Daubed with vermilion to assault the eye;
And still above these lofty rooms there stood
One other, built on ivory columns, carved
In rarest ways, beneath a roof of gold;
While, above all, a miracle of skill,
Was poised the ever-sacred pure retreat
Destined and held for King Bel-shar-uzzur,
When to the stately gods he deigned to pray.

Firm by the palace gate stood two great pillars
Of rarest sardonyx, to make innocuous
All deadly drugs, all deleterious poisons,
And the vast breathing body of the palace
Was held by glittering columns in such numbers
As were the days within the year Assyrian,
Or furlongs in the circuit of the city.

Then came a cry, and lo! with avid eyes
The people rushed into the temple's court,
For one, a bearded Jew, had spat, and spat,
Nine times upon the marble of a god!
And he was bruised and beaten by the crowd,
And there was blood upon his breast and hair,
For children in their spite had torn it forth.
And they were right, for all the people laughed,
And showed him limpid water in a bowl,
For well they knew he thirsted and was faint,
And then they spilled it on the passing swine.

He cried unto Jehovah, and his God
Was silent as a grain of sun-cursed sand,
And then the people laughed again and pierced
His filthy flanks with bodkins, for the Jew
Was lean and bony, and his only food
Was garbage thrown as offal from the walls,
By the Araxes to be carried far.
“Good God, Jehovah, pity him!” they cried.

Then from the temple came two beardless slaves,
And drave into the earth a rod of brass,
And caught the Jew as would a child a toy,
Then, poising him with hideous jests, they forced
His quivering body down upon the point
And left him groaning, calling to his God.
And then the people danced with all delight,
Smiting the Jew with stones and rotten fruit,
Aping his groans and writhing, as they cried:
“Call to thy Jew-God! Bid him save thee now!”
And he said naught, while the trained slaves drew near,
And by his sweating head they pushed him down
Further and further on the glittering rod,
That shone like gold upon the setting sun.

One groan he made, one long and piteous groan,
Then strove to twist his body in such way
That the offending brass would pierce the heart,
For well he knew that if he failed in this,
For hours, even days, he would live hopeless there,
With water none, the target of the town.

And he did fail, and all the people knew
That he had failed, and yelled a mad applause,
For now he had no strength to give the twist.
“Sweet Jew!” they cried, “watch now the temple's birds;
They love thee and are fond of Jewish meat.
Dung for their taste!” And as they spake, the crows
And carrion-kites of Babylonia swept
Above his yellowing skin and made the air
Dizzy with ebon tumult, ere they swooped
With fearful hookéd claws upon their prey,
And plucked his arid eyes out for their food.

Again the people shouted, and the Jew,
Sightless and livid, murmured to his God,
And he was heard. A tremor shook his bones,
And he was dead. And then the crowd grew still,
Whispering to one another in dismay:
“Who is the God Jehovah he adores?”