Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ISRAEL IN RUSSIA, by ARTHUR GUITERMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ISRAEL IN RUSSIA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou art but one! O god to whom we bow
Last Line: "father! Forgive them!"
Subject(s): Jews; Jews - Persecution; Right To Asylum; Russia; Judaism; Soviet Union; Russians


THOU art but One! O God to Whom we bow
In adoration;
E'en as in Egypt, Thou wilt hear us now—
Thy Chosen Nation.

Much have we sinned; far from Thy face have fled,
By passion driven.
Deep our repentance; Thou myself hast said
We are forgiven.

Empires of old upon us heaped their chains,
Burthens and lashes;
Thy thunders rolled—and of their might remains
Stubble and ashes!

Still those we taught to hold Thy Name in awe
Smite and berate us;
We are the leash that binds them to Thy Law—
Wherefore they hate us!

Vengeance is Thine! yet Thine is mercy, too.
"Shield us, but grieve them
Not!" be our prayer: "They know not what they do.
Father! forgive them!"





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