| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | They Tell Me | | By Ezekiel Leavitt (Trans. from the Hebrew by Alice Stone Blackwell) |
| | | THEY tell me, “Give thy nation up; | |
| The ancient graves resign! | |
| Give us thy soul—then plenty, wealth, | |
| And greatness shall be thine.” | |
| |
| They tell me: “Think not to rebuild | 5 |
| The City, proud and tall, | |
| Of whose old splendor there is left | |
| Only a crumbling wall. | |
| |
| “Dream not thy nation to arouse | |
| Out of its slumber deep; | 10 |
| Behold, it has so many years | |
| Lain in a marmot’s sleep!” | |
| |
| False prophets, hush! Fie, charlatans! | |
| I swerve not from the goal. | |
| I will not give my honor up,— | 15 |
| I will not sell my soul. | |
| |
| The path my fathers trod through life | |
| I follow straight and clear; | |
| Should Death demand me, I will mount | |
| The scaffold without fear. | 20 |
| |
| My God, my race, I will not change | |
| For gold or jewels’ fires. | |
| More than a stranger’s treasure-house | |
| A grave among my sires. | | | | |
|
|
