Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MORDECAI, by HELEN MARIA HUNT FISKE JACKSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MORDECAI, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Make friends with him! He is of royal line
Last Line: Not his, comes from the gallows cubits high.
Alternate Author Name(s): H. H.; Holm, Saxe; Jackson, Helen Hunt
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Jews; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Judaism


MAKE friends with him! He is of royal line,
Although he sits in rags. Not all of thine
Array of splendor, pomp of high estate,
Can buy him from his place within the gate,
The King's gate of thy happiness, where he,
Yes, even he, the Jew, remaineth free,
Never obeisance making, never scorn
Betraying of thy silver and new-born
Delight. Make friends with him, for unawares
The charmed secret of thy joys he bears;
Be glad, so long as his black sackcloth, late
And early, thwarts thy sun; for if in hate
Thou plottest for his blood, thy own death cry,
Not his, comes from the gallows cubits high.





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