 | The music-lesson of Confucius, And Other Poems |  |
34
ROSE PERFUME.
JIZCHACH BEN AKIBA the Cabalist,The Emperor Rudolph's friend and favourite,
Dwelling at Prague, determined to resist
The power of death, however he might smite,
Therefore he charmed all metals, beasts, and men,
All hills and rivulets, all rocks and trees,
The reeds which rustled by the oozy fen,
All birds which ran or soared or skimmed the seas,
That none of them should harm him, and at last,
When he had made the mighty list complete,
He proudly cried, ‘The hour will soon be past,
And Azrael lie conquered at my feet!’
With this he plucked a rose, but as he smelt
Its fragrance knew that death had reached his heart,
And saw the awful shade who never knelt
To king or magian, standing with his dart:
‘How hast thou dared,’ he cried, “to use that flower,
Against my life, when by the mighty charm
Of God 'twas bound to spare me from thy power,
And never yield itself to do me harm?’
‘Son,’ said the angel, ‘it is not the rose
Which kills thee, but the rose's sweet perfume.
The wine is not the goblet whence it flows,
The fragrance not the blossom or its bloom.
'Twas through that fragrance that I reached thy brain;
But hadst thou charmed the perfume with thy spell
I could have used the perfume's life again,
Or that life's spirit, as thou know'st full well.
And still beyond, the subtle tinctures seven,
Which spread in circles infinite to heaven.
| The music-lesson of Confucius, And Other Poems | |