Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BLOOD V. BULLION, by ANONYMOUS First Line: "well then, it now appears you need my help" Last Line: Hath a dog money?'' blood's response is-'nay!' Subject(s): Jews;jews - Persecution;russia;tyranny & Tyrants; Judaism;soviet Union;russians | ||||||||
WELL then, it now appears you need my help, Go to then: you come to me, and you say, 'Shylock, we would have moneys'you say so; You that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur Over your threshold: moneys is your suit. What should I say to you? Should I not say 'Hath a dog money?' " "Merchant of Venice," Act I, Scene 3. "With bated breath and whispering humbleness?" Not so! There comes a season when the stress Of insolent and exacting tyranny Makes the most patient turn. Autocracy, Without the despot's vaunted virtue, pride, Shows small indeed. Can Power lay aside Its swaggering part, and low petition make (Driven by those Treasury thirsts which never slake) For help from those it harries? Pharaoh's scourge Was the taskmaster's weapon used to urge The Hebrew bondsmen to their tale of toil, But they round whom the Russian's knouts' thongs coil Are of the breed of the Russian palm Can make petition to. Could triumphs balm The wounds of ages, here were babes indeed; But blood revolts. Race of the changeless creed, And ever-shifting sojourn, Shakespeare's type Deep meaning hides, which, when the world is ripe For wider wisdom, when the palsying curse Of prejudice, the canker of the purse, And blind blood-hatred, shall a little lift, Will clearlier shine, like sunburst through a rift In congregated cloud-wracks. Shylock stands Badged with black shame in all the baser lands. Use him, andspit on him! That's Gentile wont; Make him gold-conduit, and befoul the font, That's the true despot-plan through all the days, And cackling Gratianos chorus praise. "The Jew shall have all justice." Shall he so? The tyrant drains his gold, then bids him"Go!" Shylock? The name bears insult in its sound; But he was nobler than the curs who hound The patient Hebrew from his home and drive Deathward the stronger souls they dread alive. Shylock? So brand him, boors and babbling wags, Who scorn him, yet would share his money-bags; Who hate him, yet can stoop to such appeal! Beneath his meekness there's a soul of steel. High-featured, amply-bearded, see he stands Facing the Autocat; those sinewy hands Shaped but for clutchingso his slanderers say The huckster bait can coldly put away "Blood against bullion." The Jew-baiting band Howl frantic execration o'er the land; Malign and menace, pillage, persecute; Though the heart's hot, the mouth must fain be mute. The edict fulminates, the goad pursues; Proscription, deprivation,aye, they use All the old tortures, nor are then content, But crown the work with ruthless banishment. And thenthen the proud Muscovite seeks grace, And gold, from kinsmen of the harried race! "He would have moneys" from the Hebrew hoard, To swell his state, or whet his warlike sword; Perchance buy heavier scourges for the backs Of lesser Hebrews, whom his wolfish packs Of salaried minions hunt. Take back thine hand, Imperious Autocrat, and understand Gold buys not, rules not, serves not, salves not all, Blood speaksin favour of the helpless thrall Of tyranny. Here's no tame Shylock: he Shall not bend low, and in a bondsman's key, Make o'er his money-bags with unctuous grace To an enthroned enslaver of his race, "Well then, it now appears you need my help" (Youwhose trained curs at my poor kinsmen yelp!) "What should I say to you? Should I not say, 'Hath a dog money?'" Blood's response is"Nay!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OXOTA: A SHORT RUSSIAN NOVEL: CHAPTER 259 by LYN HEJINIAN A FOREIGN COUNTRY by JOSEPHINE MILES THE DIAMOND PERSONA by NORMAN DUBIE IN MEMORIAM: 1933 (7. RUSSIA: ANNO 1905) by CHARLES REZNIKOFF TAKE A LETTER TO DMITRI SHOSTAKOVITCH by CARL SANDBURG READING THE RUSSIANS by RUTH STONE THE SOVIET CIRCUS VISITS HAVANA, 1969 by VIRGIL SUAREZ A PROBLEM IN AESTHETICS by KAREN SWENSON TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
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