Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SHOSHANAH, by GEORGE E. CHODOWSKY First Line: A lily lies broken and bare on a highway Last Line: "in zion to flourish again." Subject(s): Jews; Jews - Women; Mourning; Zionism; Judaism; Bereavement | ||||||||
I A LILY lies broken and bare on a highway Broken and bare and maimed; And people from many a neighboring byway Carelessly pass her, shamed. Come carelessly passing her, lying there broken, Lying mud-spattered and torn; Of once glorious beauty now scarcely a token, She seems man and God-forlorn. In hope, though desponding, She lies unresponding To insults, to jibes, and to jeers; Herself bruised and battered, Her children wind-scattered A mother bemoaning in tears. II Lightly the all-crushing Time-wheel rolls o'er her, Leans lightly, and then rolls on; Softly the all-burning sunbeams do lower Their fiercest rays for her, so wan; Time lends his all-sheltering hand to herbleeding And soon does the sun heal each cut. But menAh! the passing menpush her unheeding, From out of the refuge rut, "What dost thou, poor lily, On highways so hilly, So far from the land of thy birth? Thy hopes lead thee whither? How camest thou hither This hard-hearted, rock-bestrewn earth?" III "I once was the fairest and happiest flower, Proudest and haughtiest dame; By the King's own hands tended, in his royal bower The Lily of Sharon, my name. But the weeds they rose up in their envy to choke me, And brought me very low; And cast on this highway, the passersby broke me, And filled my cup with woe. My house, it is Zion; My hope, Judah's Lion; For a while he has left me in pain, Not for e'er to debase me, But soon to replace me In Zion to flourish again." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HUNGERFIELD by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE MOURNER by LOUISE MOREY BOWMAN HECUBA MOURNS by MARILYN NELSON THERE IS NO GOD BUT by AGHA SHAHID ALI IF I COULD MOURN LIKE A MOURNING DOVE by FRANK BIDART DOMESDAY BOOK: THE CORONER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |
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