| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | Ben Karshook’s Wisdom | | By Robert Browning |
| | I “WOULD a man ’scape the rod?” | |
| Rabbi Ben Karshook saith, | |
| “See that he turn to God | |
| The day before his death,” | |
| |
| “Ay, could a man inquire | 5 |
| When it shall come!” I say. | |
| The Rabbi’s eye shoots fire— | |
| “Then let him turn today!” | |
| |
II Quoth a young Sadducee; | |
| “Reader of many rolls, | 10 |
| Is it so certain we | |
| Have, as they tell us, souls?” | |
| |
| “Son, there is no reply!” | |
| The Rabbi bit his beard: | |
| Certain, a soul have I— | 15 |
| We may have none,” he sneered. | |
| |
| Thus Karshook, the Hiram’s-Hammer, | |
| The Right-hand Temple-column, | |
| Taught babes in grace their grammar, | |
| And struck the simple, solemn. | 20 | | | |
|
|
