Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CHANUKAH, by MARION HARTOG First Line: Down-trodden 'neath the syrian heel Last Line: And live for evermore. Subject(s): Fasts & Feasts; Hanukkah; History; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Memory; Temples; Historians; Shoah; Judaism; Mosques | ||||||||
DOWN-TRODDEN 'neath the Syrian heel Did Zion's sceptre lie; Her shrine, where once God's glory flung Its radiance, now wildly rung With pagan revelry. And in the Temple's secret place, Where once the High Priest bowed In homage to the King of kings, The vilest of all earthly things Was worshipped by the crowd. And still the flaming altar smoked, The priest was at his post, Commanding Israel's sons to pray To images of stone and clay, Or swell the holocaust. Seven glorious brethren there had stood, Unflinching, side by side, And, sooner than yield up their faith, Had dared the faggot's burning breath, And willing martyrs died. Not unavenged and not in vain Fell that undaunted race; For Judas, with his patriot band, Drove the oppressors from the land, And cleansed the holy place. Then the Menorah once again Illumed the holy shrine, One little flask of sacred oil, Saved unpolluted from the spoil Supplied the light divine. Full twenty centuries have rolled The gulf of Time adown, Since those heroic Maccabees, The victims of Epiphanes, Assumed the martyr's crown. And still the Festival of Lights Recalls those deeds of yore That make our history's page sublime And live for evermore. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BAYADERE by FRANCIS SALTUS SALTUS AT DENDERA by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR RAMESES WORSHIPS RAMESES AT ABU SIMBEL by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR GLIMPSES OF ITALY: 5. LIKE PAESTUM'S TEMPLE by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON MAYAN TEMPLE by ADA CLARKE CARMICHIEL THE EARTHLY HOUSE by PHOEBE CARY THE DESERTED SHRINE by GLADYS CROMWELL THE ARK OF THE COVENANT by NINA DAVIS THE MENORAH by MIRIAM DEL BANCO THE CRYSTAL GAZER by SARA TEASDALE |
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