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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BEZALEL by ISRAEL ZANGWILL

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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