Without a chance
without being asked
Still they ask
They insist
Declaim “this”1
Before the mountain man2
before the voices3
before three stars4
came us5
Returned we6
no prodigal7
no mere relic8
Rather to end it9
Everlasting
Present, ever threatening
To green hills and pleasant land again10
Blood yet, but blood washes away11
Charles’s Great withers12
Cries for its foe13
A spent will14
Openings its choice15
The stream flows16
Course not ours to take17
Merely players18
At the end, so the beginning19
In the second’s son embrace20
Fate it will be
Holy thrice say21
intercede in vain
A design to be completed
And ruin in its way22
And let us sing Amen23 .
[1] “They” the world wants us to apologize, to attack Israel without caring one bit about all the terrible things that happened, but ”we won’t, we can’t.
[2] Mohammad who Francis Bacon famously told a story about him going to the mountain (although some also say the story is based on an Ottoman tale)
[3] Buddha and others who found wisdom through what they called enlightenment
[4] Stars of magi, a reference to the tale of baby Jesus, also using imagery from Jewish law about when the Sabbath is over
[5] The Jews came first, with Abraham
[6] To the Land of Israel
[7] Bad son who returns home and needs special consideration – a reference to and criticism of the parable of Jesus, of the prodigal son
[8] Attack on British 20th-century historian Arnold Toynbee’s claim that the Jews are a fossil and have no claim to existence.
[9] I.e. Jews have returned to the Land of Israel after 2,000 years in order to usher in the end of history which will see the conclusion of their daughter religions of Islam and Christianity (and its daughter religion of human right liberalism) which are trying so hard to prevent the Jews’ return and living permanently and properly in their land
[10] Referring to the Talmud Sanhedrin predicating how only the Jews can make the Land of Israel blossom; imagery is from the poem, Jerusalem, by the English poet William Blake.
[11] Alluding to the poem of American poet, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself, 51” “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself.”
[12] Reference to Charlemagne’s (Charles le Magne -Charles the Great) great creation/dream of a united Europe, as well as his “great” gift to the Jews of inviting them to move to his lands. Now Europe is withering while its Jews continue to disappear.
[13] The great foe of Charlemagne’s Europe was Islam, that which Europe now embraces whether it admits it or not
[14] “Will” is needed to fight, but the will was spent on two great wars, to destroy the evil “will” of other Europeans; “will” in the 19th century philosophical sense.
[15] Where a body of water flows is not up to us, similarly how history turns out with Jews returning to their lands and the eventual collapse of some belief systems, is ultimately not dependent on aby of our choices.
[16] History’s course is not ours to make.
[17] God takes history where he wants it to go; He steers its “course,” switching from the imagery of a stream to one of maritime navigation.
[18] We are merely along for the ride. Reference to the beginning of Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man” speech in his play, As You Like It: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances” (players i.e. actors in a great drama beyond our control).
[19] The “end” of history will reflect the beginning of the Judeo-Christian story that also gave birth to Islam, with God embracing his child, Israel. Language continues to reflect Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man” speech whose next line was, “They have their exits and their entrances,” as well as Isaiah 46:10, “I foretell the end from the beginning, And from the start, things that had not occurred. I say: My plan shall be fulfilled; I will do all I have proposed.”
[20] Reference to Isaac who was a second son (as opposed to Ishmael, the first son, who represents Islam) and to Jacob who was also a second son (as opposed to Esau, who represents Christianity).
[21] I.e. Unlike the beginning of the poem where the forces against Israel call on us to speak badly of Israel, here we will proclaim Israel’s case in the name of God in the face of them all. Reference to the kedusha prayer: “and call to one another and say, ‘holy, holy, holy.’”
[22] Continuing the theme of Isaiah here in 46:11: “I have designed it, so I will complete it”…and the imagery of God’s terrible vengeance in 47:4 : “Evil is coming upon you Which you will not know how to charm away; Disaster is falling upon you Which you will not be able to appease; Coming upon you suddenly Is ruin of which you know nothing.”
[23] Reference to the way many traditional prayers end in with an Amen, as well as to Leonard Cohen’s Amen, “Amen/ Amen/ Amen/ Amen/ Tell me again/ When the victims are singing/ And the laws of remorse are restored/ Tell me again/ That you know what I’m thinking/ But vengeance belongs to the Lord..”
