14.02.2017 Views

Poems by Isaac Rosenberg

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

;<br />

POEMS BY ISAAC ROSENBERG<br />

An Aged Minstrel<br />

[Swigs frorn a distance^<br />

Taut is the air and tied the trees,<br />

The leaves lie as on a hand ;<br />

God's unthinkable imagination<br />

Invents new tortures for nature.<br />

And when the air is soft and the leaves<br />

Feel free and push and tremble,<br />

Will they not remember and say<br />

How wonderful to have lived ?<br />

[The Old Hebrew is agitated and murmurs^]<br />

Messiah, Messiah. . . . That voice . . .<br />

O, he has beaten my sight out. ... I see<br />

Like a rain about a devouring fire. . . .<br />

[The Minstrel sings.']<br />

Ye who best God awhile, O hear :<br />

your wealth<br />

Is but His cunning to see to make death more<br />

hard,<br />

Your iron sinews take more pain in breaking<br />

And he has made the market for your beauty<br />

Too poor to buy although you die to sell.<br />

70

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!