The Poems of Emma Lazarus in two volumes | ||
A TRANSLATION AND TWO IMITATIONS.
I.
DONNA CLARA.
(FROM THE GERMAN OF HEINE.)
Wanders the Alcalde's daughter,
Festal sounds of drum and trumpet
Ring out hither from the Castle.
Honeyed words of adulation
From the knights who still compare me
To the sun with dainty phrases.
Since I first beheld by moonlight
Him, my cavalier, whose zither
Nightly draws me to my casement.
With his flaming eyes that sparkle,
And with nobly pallid features,
Truly, he St. George resembles.”
On the ground her eyes were fastened.
When she raised them, lo! before her
Stood the handsome knightly stranger.
These twain wander in the moonlight,
Gently doth the breeze caress them,
The enchanted roses greet them.
And they glow like Love's own heralds.
“Tell me, tell me, my beloved,
Wherefore all at once thou blushest?”
And I hate these gnats in summer
E'en as though they were a rabble
Of vile Jews with long, hooked noses.”
Spake the knight with fond endearments.
From the almond-trees dropped downward
Myriad snowy flakes of blossoms.
Shed around them fragrant odors.
“Tell me, tell me, my beloved,
Looks thy heart on me with favor?”
And I swear it by our Saviour,
Whom the accursed Jews did murder,
Long ago with wicked malice.”
Spake the knight with fond endearments.
Far off waved, as in a vision,
Gleaming lilies bathed in moonlight.
Seemed to watch the stars above them.
“Tell me, tell me, my beloved,
Didst thou not erewhile swear falsely?”
E'en as in my veins there floweth
Not a drop of blood that 's Moorish,
Neither of foul Jewish current.”
Spake the knight with fond endearments.
Then towards a grove of myrtles
Leads he the Alcalde's daughter.
He has trapped her and entangled.
Brief their words, but long their kisses,
For their hearts are overflowing.
Sings the nightingale, the pure one.
How the fire-flies in the grasses
Trip their sparkling torchlight dances!
Naught is heard save furtive rustling
Of the swaying myrtle branches,
And the breathing of the flowers.
Burst forth sudden from the castle.
Rudely they awaken Clara,
Pillowed on her lover's bosom.
But before we part, oh tell me,
Tell me what thy precious name is,
Which so closely thou hast hidden.”
Kissed the fingers of his Donna,
Kissed her lips and kissed her forehead,
And at last these words he uttered:
Am the son of the respected,
Worthy, erudite Grand Rabbi,
Israel of Saragossa.”
The ensemble of the romance is a scene of my own life—only the Park of Berlin has become the Alcalde's garden, the Baroness a Señora, and myself a St. George, or even an Apollo. This was only to be the first part of a trilogy, the second of which shows the hero jeered at by his own child, who does not know him, whilst the third discovers this child, who has become a Dominican, and is torturing to the death his Jewish brethren. The refrain of these two pieces corresponds with that of the first. Indeed this little poem was not intended to excite laughter, still less to denote a mocking spirit. I merely wished, without any definite purpose, to render with epic impartiality in this poem an individual circumstance, and, at the same time, something general and universal—a moment in the world's history which was distinctly reflected in my experience, and I had conceived the whole idea in a spirit which was anything rather than smiling, but serious and painful, so much so, that it was to form the first part of a tragic trilogy.—
Heine's Correspondence.
Guided by these hints, I have endeavored to carry out in the two following original Ballads the Poet's first conception.
II.
DON PEDRILLO.
Nobler-featured, haughtier-tempered,
Than the Alcalde's youthful grandson,
Donna Clara's boy Pedrillo.
And devout as St. Ignatius.
Miniature of knightly virtues.
To his pious, widowed mother,
To the beautiful, lone matron
Who forswore the world to rear him.
In such wise as the pomegranate
Putteth by her crown of blossoms,
For her richer crown of fruitage.
Still she spurns her proudest suitors,
Doting on a phantom passion,
And upon her boy Pedrillo.
First at matins, last at vespers,
Half her fortune she expendeth
Buying masses for the needy.
Infinite is her compassion,
Scorning not the Moorish beggar,
Nor the wretched Jew despising.
E'en she hath been known to welcome
Offering to his tribe her bounty.
Yet the thought that he hath crossed it,
Burns like poison in the marrow
Of the zealous youth Pedrillo.
He hath vowed immortal hatred
To these circumcised intruders
Who pollute the soil of Spaniards.
At high noon the boy Pedrillo
Playeth with his favorite parrot,
Golden-green with streaks of scarlet.
Coaxed Pedrillo—“thief and traitor”—
“Thief and traitor”—croaked the parrot,
“Is the yellow-skirted Rabbi.”
Stroked his favorite's head of emerald,
Raised his eyes, and lo! before him
Stood the yellow-skirted Rabbi.
No hot flush o'erspread his features.
And a shadow crossed his forehead.
And his voice was mild and friendly,
“Evil words, my son, thou speakest,
Teaching to the fowls of heaven.
Thrice curst is the tongue of slander,
Poisoning also with its victim,
Him who speaks and him who listens.”
“What care I for curse of Talmud?
'T is no slander to speak evil
Of the murderers of our Saviour.
That I only bide my manhood,
To wreak all my lawful hatred,
On thyself and on thy people.”
“Have a care, my son Pedrillo,
Thou art orphaned, and who knoweth
But thy father loved this people?”
Such I laugh to scorn, sir Rabbi,
On my deeds will smile in blessing.
And my mother oft assures me,
Ne'er she saw so pure a Christian,
'T is from him my zeal deriveth.”
As myself who stand before thee?”
“I should curse the hour that bore me,
I should die of shame and horror.”
For had I a son as comely
As Pedrillo, I would love him,
Love him were he thrice a Christian.
Pamper, fondle, die to serve him,
Only breathing through his spirit—
Couldst thou not love such a father?”
With white lips and twitching fingers,
Then in clear, young, steady treble,
Answered him the boy Pedrillo:
All your tribe offend my senses,
And a stench unto my nostrils.
With thick lips and eagle noses,
Thus I scorn them, thus revile them,
Thus I spit upon their garment.”
Bearing on his wrist his parrot,
And the yellow-skirted Rabbi
With bowed head sought Donna Clara.
III
FRA PEDRO.
Flings the splendid sun declining,
O'er the monastery garden
Rich in flower, fruit and foliage.
Pace two grave and ghostly friars,
Snowy white their gowns and girdles,
Black as night their cowls and mantles.
Black his scapular denoting
A lay brother; his companion
Large, imperious, towers above him.
Famous through all Saragossa
For his quenchless zeal in crushing
Heresy amidst his townfolk.
E'en as when the boy Pedrillo,
Insolent with youth and beauty,
Who reviled the gentle Rabbi.
From his dark eyes brightly flashing.
Stern his voice: “These too shall perish.
I have vowed extermination.
Filial love or woman's beauty.
Jews are Jews, as serpents serpents,
In themselves abomination.”
“If my zeal, thrice reverend master,
E'er afforded thee assistance,
Serving thee as flesh serves spirit,
Casting into chains or exile,
At thy bidding these vile wretches,
Hear and heed me now, my master.
Ben Jehudah is accounted
Saragossa's first physician,
Loved by colleague as by patient.
Is our city's pearl of beauty,
Like the clusters of the vineyard
Droop the ringlets o'er her temples.
Shines her face among her people,
And her form hath all the languor,
Grace and glamour of the palm-tree.
This is not their first affliction,
Was it not our Holy Office
Whose bribed menials fired their dwelling?
Choked the stairways, filled the chambers,
Waked the household to the terror
Of the flaming death that threatened.
Knew her hour had come; two daughters,
Twinned in form, and mind, and spirit,
And their father—who would save them?
Donna Zara flew behind him
Round his neck her white arms wreathing,
Drew him from the burning chamber.
Stirred no limb to shun her torture,
Held her mother's hand and kissed her,
Saying, ‘We will go together.’
As the flames enwound the dwelling,
Like a glory they illumined
Awfully the martyred daughter.
Not a natural cry escaped her,
Helpless clung to her her mother,
Hand in hand they went together.
Have rolled by, yet on the forehead
Of Jehudah is imprinted
Still the horror of that morning.
His false creed; a man of sorrows,
He hath walked secure among us,
And his art repays our sufferance.”
Lent him an impatient hearing,
Then outbroke with angry accent,
“We have borne three years, thou sayest?
These shall perish with their brethren.
Hark ye! In my veins' pure current
Were a single drop found Jewish,
All my life blood, but to purge it.
Shall I gentler prove to others?
Mercy would be sacrilegious.
Speak to me of Jewish beauty,
Jewish skill, or Jewish virtue.
I have said. Do thou remember.”
Dropped the sun; above the garden
Rang the Angelus' clear cadence
Summoning the monks to vespers.
The Poems of Emma Lazarus in two volumes | ||