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Poems by Isaac Rosenberg

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—:<br />

POEMS BY ISAAC ROSENBERG<br />

Vague rumours of our world, to his mind<br />

An unpleasant miasma.<br />

Young Hkbkkw<br />

Is not Miriam his sister, Jochabed his mother ?<br />

In the womb he looked round and saw<br />

From furthermost stretches our wrong<br />

From the palaces and schools<br />

Our pain has pierced dead generations<br />

Back to his blood's thin source.<br />

As we lie chained <strong>by</strong> Egyptian men<br />

He lay in nets of their women,<br />

And now rejoices he has broken their meshes.<br />

O ! His desires are fleets of treasure<br />

He has squandered, in treacherous seas.<br />

Sailing mistrust to find frank ports ;<br />

He fears our fear and tampers mildly<br />

For our assent to let him save us.<br />

When he walks amid our toil<br />

With some master-mason<br />

His tense brows, critical<br />

Of the loose enginery,<br />

Hint famed devices flat, his rod<br />

Scratching new schemes on the sand :<br />

But read hard the scrawled lines there<br />

Limned turrets and darkness, chinks of light,<br />

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