Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
From The Dance to Death
By Emma Lazarus (1849–1887)P
A
R
Out of the depths we cry to thee, O God!
Show us the path of everlasting life;
For in thy presence is the plenitude
Of joy, and in thy right hand endless bliss.
A J
Thou hast brought down this doom. Would we had heard
The prophet’s voice!
S
Oh let us die as warriors of the Lord.
The Lord is great in Zion. Let our death
Bring no reproach to Jacob, no rebuke
To Israel. Hark ye! let us crave one boon
At our assassins’ hands; beseech them build
Within God’s acre, where our fathers sleep,
A dancing-floor to hide the fagots stacked.
Then let the minstrels strike the harp and lute,
And we will dance and sing above the pile,
Fearless of death, until the flames engulf,
Even as David danced before the Lord,
As Miriam danced and sang beside the sea.
Great is our Lord! His name is glorious
In Judah, and extolled in Israel!
In Salem is his tent, his dwelling-place
In Zion; let us chant the praise of God!
A J
With dance and song. Embrace him as a bride.
So that the Lord receive us in His tent.
S
R
In anger, oh our God! Our sins o’erwhelm
Our smitten heads, they are a grievous load;
We look on our iniquities, we tremble,
Knowing our trespasses. Forsake us not.
Be thou not far from us. Haste to our aid,
Oh God, who art our Saviour and our Rock!
The hour approaches. Let our thoughts ascend
From mortal anguish to the ecstasy
Of martyrdom, the blessed death of those
Who perish in the Lord. I see, I see
How Israel’s ever-crescent glory makes
These flames that would eclipse it dark as blots
Of candle-light against the blazing sun.
We die a thousand deaths, drown, bleed, and burn;
Our ashes are dispersed unto the winds.
Yet the wild winds cherish the sacred seed,
The waters guard it in their crystal heart,
The fire refuseth to consume. It springs,
A tree immortal, shadowing many lands,
Unvisited, unnamed, undreamed as yet.
Rather a vine, full-flowered, golden-branched,
Ambrosial-fruited, creeping on the earth,
Trod by the passer’s foot, yet chosen to deck
Tables of princes. Israel now has fallen
Into the depths, he shall be great in time.
Even as we die in honor, from our death
Shall bloom a myriad heroic lives,
Brave through our bright example, virtuous
Lest our great memory fall in disrepute.
Is one among us brothers, would exchange
His doom against our tyrants,—lot for lot?
Let him go forth and live—he is no Jew.
Is one who would not die in Israel
Rather than live in Christ,—their Christ who smiles
On such a deed as this? Let him go forth—
He may die full of years upon his bed.
Ye who nurse rancor haply in your hearts,
Fear ye we perish unavenged? Not so!
To-day, no! nor to-morrow! but in God’s time,
Our witnesses arise. Ours is the truth,
Ours is the power, the gift of Heaven. We hold
His Law, His lamp, His covenant, His pledge.
Wherever in the ages shall arise
Jew-priest, Jew-poet, Jew-singer, or Jew-saint—
And everywhere I see them star the gloom—
In each of these the martyrs are avenged!
R
Scrolls of the Law. Gather the silver vessels,
Dismantle the rich curtains of the doors,
Bring the Perpetual Lamp; all these shall burn,
For Israel’s light is darkened, Israel’s Law
Profaned by strangers. Thus the Lord hath said:
“The weapon formed against thee shall not prosper,
The tongue that shall contend with thee in judgment,
Thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
Of the Lord’s servants and their righteousness.
For thou shalt come to peoples yet unborn,
Declaring that which He hath done. Amen!”
What! will ye teach your betters patience? Out!
The Governor is ready. Forth with you,
Curs! serpents! Judases! The bonfire burns![Exeunt.]
An ill prod for my ribs.
2
My limbs are not mine own.
3
They will come hence,—a pack of just-whipped curs.
I warrant you the stiff-necked brutes repent
To-day if ne’er before.
W
I have seen monstrous sights,—an uncaged wolf,
The corpse of one sucked by a vampyre,
The widow Kupfen’s malformed child—but never
Until this hour, a Jew.
3
Where do you spy one now?
W
Now or anon, what matters it?
4
Have seen a Jew, and seen one burn at that;
Hard by in Wartburg; he had killed a child.
Zounds! how the serpent wriggled! I smell now
The roasting, stinking flesh!
B
The folk who murdered Jesus?
4
Remember that, and when you hear them come,
I’ll lift you on my shoulders. You can fling
Your pebbles with the rest.
B
But hose and skirts.
The sorcerers brew new mischief.
A
Pranked for a holiday; not veiled for death.
A
Down to the grave!
C
To think the devils look like human folk!
C
C
T
S
He has bewitched mine eyes.
S
Who murders his own child!
S
Süsskind von Orb! Blood for blood, fire for fire,
And death for death!
[Enter Jewish youths and maidens.]
That we shall enter in God’s tabernacle!
M
Within thy portals, O Jerusalem![Exeunt.]
C
C
For foot to rest on yonder. Look! look there!
How the flames rise!
B
They all are dancing in the crimson blaze.
Look how their garments wave, their jewels shine,
When the smoke parts a bit. The tall flames dart.
Is not the fire real fire? They fear it not.
V
Within the light of the Almighty Lord!
N
S
N
I swear, Lord Schnetzen, by my knightly honor,
She who is dancing yonder to her death,
Is thy wife’s child!
C
P
S
For the child-murderer? Kill me, my friends! my breast
Is bare to all your swords.