An Epistle Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DEAFG HIHIHIDD JKJKJKLM NANANAOO F PQPRPRSS F DDDDDDTT F FDFDFDUU F FVFVFVWW F XAXAXAYZ Z FDFDFDAA Z UAUAUAZZ Z DDDDDDDD Z A2AA2AA2AAA Z DDDDDDDD F B2DB2DB2DDD F AC2AC2AC2D2D2 F DDDDDDDD F E2F2E2F2E2F2AA F DDDDDDDD D DG2DG2DG2ZZ D ZFZFZFDD D DADADAOO D DADADAZZ D DFDFDFDD F DDDDDDH2H2 F ADADADI2I2 F DDDDDDFF F B2DB2DB2DJ2J2 F DUDUDUK2L2 D DDDDDDAA D DZDZDZZZ D ADADADM2M2 D H2AH2AH2AZZ D DDDDDDFF F DZDZDZAAFrom Joshua Ibn Vives of Allorqui to his Former Master Solomon | A |
Levi Paul de Santa Maria Bishop of Cartegna Chancellor of | B |
Castile and Privy Councillor to King Henry III of Spain | C |
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In this poem I have done little more than elaborate | D |
and versify the account given in Graetz's History of the | E |
Jews Vol VIII page of an Epistle actually written | A |
in the beginning of the th century by Joshua ben Joseph | F |
Ibn Vives to Paulus de Santa Maria E L | G |
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I | - |
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Master and Sage greetings and health to thee | H |
From thy most meek disciple Deign once more | I |
Endure me at thy feet enlighten me | H |
As when upon my boyish head of yore | I |
Midst the rapt circle gathered round thy knee | H |
Thy sacred vials of learning thou didst pour | I |
By the large lustre of thy wisdom orbed | D |
Be my black doubts illumined and absorbed | D |
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II | - |
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Oft I recall that golden time when thou | J |
Born for no second station heldst with us | K |
The Rabbi's chair who art priest and bishop now | J |
And we the youth of Israel curious | K |
Hung on thy counsels lifted reverent brow | J |
Unto thy sanctity would fain discuss | K |
With thee our Talmud problems good and evil | L |
Till startled by the risen stars o'er Seville | M |
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III | - |
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For on the Synagogue's high pillared porch | N |
Thou didst hold session till the sudden sun | A |
Beyond day's purple limit dropped his torch | N |
Then we as dreamers woke to find outrun | A |
Time's rapid sands The flame that may not scorch | N |
Our hearts caught from thine eyes thou Shining One | A |
I scent not yet sweet lemon groves in flower | O |
But I re breathe the peace of that deep hour | O |
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IV | F |
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We kissed the sacred borders of thy gown | P |
Brow aureoled with thy blessing we went forth | Q |
Through the hushed byways of the twilight town | P |
Then in all life but one thing seemed of worth | R |
To seek find love the Truth She set her crown | P |
Upon thy head our Master at thy birth | R |
She bade thy lips drop honey fired thine eyes | S |
With the unclouded glow of sun steeped skies | S |
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V | F |
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Forgive me if I dwell on that which viewed | D |
From thy new vantage ground must seem a mist | D |
Of error by auroral youth endued | D |
With alien lustre Still in me subsist | D |
Those reeking vapors faith and gratitude | D |
Still lead me to the hand my boy lips kissed | D |
For benison and guidance Not in wrath | T |
Master but in wise patience point my path | T |
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VI | F |
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For I thy servant gather in one sheaf | F |
The venomed shafts of slander which thy word | D |
Shall shrivel to small dust If haply grief | F |
Or momentary pain I deal my Lord | D |
Blame not thy servant's zeal nor be thou deaf | F |
Unto my soul's blind cry for light Accord | D |
Pitying my love if too superb to care | U |
For hate soiled name an answer to my prayer | U |
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VII | F |
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To me who vine to stone clung close to thee | F |
The very base of life appeared to quake | V |
When first I knew thee fallen from us to be | F |
A tower of strength among our foes to make | V |
'Twixt Jew and Jew deep cloven enmity | F |
I have wept gall and blood for thy dear sake | V |
But now with temperate soul I calmly search | W |
Motive and cause that bound thee to the Church | W |
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VIII | F |
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Four motives possible therefor I reach | X |
Ambition doubt fear or mayhap conviction | A |
I hear in turn ascribed thee all and each | X |
By ignorant folk who part not truth from fiction | A |
But I whom even thyself didst stoop to teach | X |
May poise the scales weigh this with that confliction | A |
Yea sift the hid grain motive from the dense | Y |
Dusty eye blinding chaff of consequence | Z |
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IX | Z |
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Ambition first I find no fleck thereof | F |
In all thy clean soul What could glory gold | D |
Or sated senses lure thy lofty love | F |
No purple cloak to shield thee from the cold | D |
No jeweled sign to flicker thereabove | F |
And dazzle men to homage joys untold | D |
Of spiritual treasure grace divine | A |
Alone so saidst thou coveting for thine | A |
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X | Z |
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I saw thee mount with deprecating air | U |
Step after step unto our Jewish throne | A |
Of supreme dignity the Rabbi's chair | U |
Shrinking from public honors thrust upon | A |
Thy meek desert regretting even there | U |
The placid habit of thy life foregone | A |
Silence obscure vast peace and austere days | Z |
Passed in wise contemplation prayer and praise | Z |
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XI | Z |
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One less than thou had ne'er known such regret | D |
How must thou suffer who so lov'st the shade | D |
In Fame's full glare whom one stride more shall set | D |
Upon the Papal seat I stand dismayed | D |
Familiar with thy fearful soul and yet | D |
Half glad perceiving modest worth repaid | D |
Even by the Christians Could thy soul deflect | D |
No no thrice no Ambition I reject | D |
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XII | Z |
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Next doubt Could doubt have swayed thee then I ask | A2 |
How enters doubt within the soul of man | A |
Is it a door that opens or a mask | A2 |
That falls and Truth's resplendent face we scan | A |
Nay 't is a creeping small blind worm whose task | A2 |
Is gnawing at Faith's base the whole vast plan | A |
Rots crumbles eaten inch by inch within | A |
And on its ruins falsehood springs and sin | A |
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XIII | Z |
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But thee no doubt confused no problems vexed | D |
Thy father's faith for thee proved bright and sweet | D |
Thou foundst no rite superfluous no text | D |
Obscure the path was straight before thy feet | D |
Till thy baptismal day thou unperplexed | D |
By foreign dogma didst our prayers repeat | D |
Honor the God of Israel fast and feast | D |
Even as thy people's wont from first to least | D |
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XIV | F |
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Yes Doubt I likewise must discard Not sleek | B2 |
Full faced erect of head men walk when doubt | D |
Writhes at their entrails pinched and lean of cheek | B2 |
With brow pain branded thou hadst strayed about | D |
As midst live men a ghost condemned to seek | B2 |
That soul he may nor live nor die without | D |
No doubts the font washed from thee thou didst glide | D |
From creed to creed complete sane souled clear eyed | D |
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XV | F |
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Thy pardon Master if I dare sustain | A |
The thesis thou couldst entertain a fear | C2 |
I would but rout thine enemies who feign | A |
Ignoble impulse prompted thy career | C2 |
I will but weigh the chances and make plain | A |
To Envy's self the monstrous jest appear | C2 |
Though time place circumstance confirmed in seeming | D2 |
One word from thee should frustrate all their scheming | D2 |
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XVI | F |
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Was Israel glad in Seville on the day | D |
Thou didst renounce him Then mightst thou indeed | D |
Snap finger at whate'er thy slanderers say | D |
Lothly must I admit just then the seed | D |
Of Jacob chanced upon a grievous way | D |
Still from the wounds of that red year we bleed | D |
The curse had fallen upon our heads the sword | D |
Was whetted for the chosen of the Lord | D |
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XVII | F |
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There where we flourished like a fruitful palm | E2 |
We were uprooted spoiled lopped limb from limb | F2 |
A bolt undreamed of out of heavens calm | E2 |
So cracked our doom We were destroyed by him | F2 |
Whose hand since childhood we had clasped With balm | E2 |
Our head had been anointed at the brim | F2 |
Our cup ran over now our day was done | A |
Our blood flowed free as water in the sun | A |
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XVIII | F |
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Midst the four thousand of our tribe who held | D |
Glad homes in Seville never a one was spared | D |
Some slaughtered at their hearthstones some expelled | D |
To Moorish slavery Cunningly ensnared | D |
Baited and trapped were we their fierce monks yelled | D |
And thundered from our Synagogues while flared | D |
The Cross above the Ark Ah happiest they | D |
Who fell unconquered martyrs on that day | D |
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XIX | D |
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For some I write it with flushed cheek bowed head | D |
Given free choice 'twixt death and shame chose shame | G2 |
Denied the God who visibly had led | D |
Their fathers pillared in a cloud of flame | G2 |
Bathed in baptismal waters ate the bread | D |
Which is their new Lord's body took the name | G2 |
Marranos the Accursed whom equally | Z |
Jew Moor and Christian hate despise and flee | Z |
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XX | D |
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Even one no less than an Abarbanel | Z |
Prized miserable length of days above | F |
Integrity of soul Midst such who fell | Z |
Far be it however from my duteous love | F |
Master to reckon thee Thine own lips tell | Z |
How fear nor torture thy firm will could move | F |
How thou midst panic nowise disconcerted | D |
By Thomas of Aquinas wast converted | D |
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XXI | D |
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Truly I know no more convincing way | D |
To read so wise an author than was thine | A |
When burning Synagogues changed night to day | D |
And red swords underscored each word and line | A |
That was a light to read by Who'd gainsay | D |
Authority so clearly stamped divine | A |
On this side death and torture flame and slaughter | O |
On that a harmless wafer and clean water | O |
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XXII | D |
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Thou couldst not fear extinction for our race | D |
Though Christian sword and fire from town to town | A |
Flash double bladed lightning to efface | D |
Israel's image though we bleed burn drown | A |
Through Christendom 't is but a scanty space | D |
Still are the Asian hills and plains our own | A |
Still are we lords in Syria still are free | Z |
Nor doomed to be abolished utterly | Z |
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XXIII | D |
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One sole conclusion hence at last I find | D |
Thou whom ambition doubt nor fear could swerve | F |
Perforce hast been persuaded through the mind | D |
Proved tested the new dogmas found them serve | F |
Thy spirit's needs left flesh and sense behind | D |
Accepted without shrinking or reserve | F |
The trans substantial bread and wine the Christ | D |
At whose shrine thine own kin were sacrificed | D |
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XXIV | F |
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Here then the moment comes when I crave light | D |
All's dark to me Master if I be blind | D |
Thou shalt unseal my lids and bless with sight | D |
Or groping in the shadows I shall find | D |
Whether within me or without dwell night | D |
Oh cast upon my doubt bewildered mind | D |
One ray from thy clear heaven of sun bright faith | H2 |
Grieving not wroth at what thy servant saith | H2 |
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XXV | F |
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Where are the signs fulfilled whereby all men | A |
Should know the Christ Where is the wide winged peace | D |
Shielding the lamb within the lion's den | A |
The freedom broadening with the wars that cease | D |
Do foes clasp hands in brotherhood again | A |
Where is the promised garden of increase | D |
When like a rose the wilderness should bloom | I2 |
Earth is a battlefield and Spain a tomb | I2 |
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XXVI | F |
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Our God of Sabaoth is an awful God | D |
Of lightnings and of vengeance Christians say | D |
Earth trembled nations perished at his nod | D |
His Law has yielded to a milder sway | D |
Theirs is the God of Love whose feet have trod | D |
Our common earth draw near to him and pray | D |
Meek faced dove eyed pure browed the Lord of life | F |
Know him and kneel else at your throat the knife | F |
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XXVII | F |
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This is the God of Love whose altars reek | B2 |
With human blood who teaches men to hate | D |
Torture past words or sins we may not speak | B2 |
Wrought by his priests behind the convent grate | D |
Are his priests false or are his doctrines weak | B2 |
That none obeys him State at war with state | D |
Church against church yea Pope at feud with Pope | J2 |
In these tossed seas what anchorage for hope | J2 |
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XXVIII | F |
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Not only for the sheep without the fold | D |
Is the knife whetted who refuse to share | U |
Blessings the shepherd wise doth not withhold | D |
Even from the least among his flock but there | U |
Midmost the pale dissensions manifold | D |
Lamb flaying lamb fierce sheep that rend and tear | U |
Master if thou to thy pride's goal should come | K2 |
Where wouldst thou throne at Avignon or Rome | L2 |
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XXIX | D |
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I handle burning questions good my lord | D |
Such as may kindle fagots well I wis | D |
Your Gospel not denies our older Word | D |
But in a way completes and betters this | D |
The Law of Love shall supersede the sword | D |
So runs the promise but the facts I miss | D |
Already needs this wretched generation | A |
A voice divine a new third revelation | A |
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XXX | D |
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Two Popes and their adherents fulminate | D |
Ban against ban and to the nether hell | Z |
Condemn each other while the nations wait | D |
Their Christ to thunder forth from Heaven and tell | Z |
Who is his rightful Vicar reinstate | D |
His throne the hideous discord to dispel | Z |
Where shall I seek master while such things be | Z |
Celestial truth revealed certainty | Z |
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XXXI | D |
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Not miracles I doubt for how dare man | A |
Chief miracle of life's mystery say HE KNOWS | D |
How may he closely secret causes scan | A |
Who learns not whence he comes nor where he goes | D |
Like one who walks in sleep a doubtful span | A |
He gropes through all his days till Death unclose | D |
His cheated eyes and in one blinding gleam | M2 |
Wakes to discern the substance from the dream | M2 |
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XXXII | D |
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I say not therefore I deny the birth | H2 |
The Virgin's motherhood the resurrection | A |
Who know not how mine own soul came to earth | H2 |
Nor what shall follow death Man's imperfection | A |
May bound not even in thought the height and girth | H2 |
Of God's omnipotence neath his direction | A |
We may approach his essence but that He | Z |
Should dwarf Himself to us it cannot be | Z |
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XXXIII | D |
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The God who balances the clouds who spread | D |
The sky above us like a molten glass | D |
The God who shut the sea with doors who laid | D |
The corner stone of earth who caused the grass | D |
Spring forth upon the wilderness and made | D |
The darkness scatter and the night to pass | D |
That He should clothe Himself with flesh and move | F |
Midst worms a worm this sun moon stars disprove | F |
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XXXIV | F |
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Help me O thou who wast my boyhood's guide | D |
I bend my exile weary feet to thee | Z |
Teach me the indivisible to divide | D |
Show me how three are one and One is three | Z |
How Christ to save all men was crucified | D |
Yet I and mine are damned eternally | Z |
Instruct me Sage why Virtue starves alone | A |
While falsehood step by step ascends the throne | A |
Emma Lazarus
(1)
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