Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BEZALEL, by ISRAEL ZANGWILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BEZALEL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Bezalel, filled with wisdom to design
Last Line: A dying rabble in a wilderness.
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Jews; Judaism


BEZALEL, filled with wisdom to design
Stones, precious wood, rich-embroidered fabrics, gold,
Fed not the few with cunning manifold
Nor empty loveliness; his art divine
Set up a tabernacle as a sign
Of oneness for a rabble many-souled,
So that each span of desert should behold
A nomad people with a steadfast shrine.

But we, its sons, who wander in the dark,
Footsore, far-scattered, growing less and less,
What whiteness glooms our brotherhood to mark,
What promised land our journey's end to bless!
We are, unless we build some shrine or ark,
A dying rabble in a wilderness.





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