Poem, not Passion

Letters

Editor: Some years ago, I came across this haunting piece by the long-forgotten American poet Paul Eldridge. Written at the height of the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people, it seems the proper antidote to such anti-Semitic poisons as may be released by Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. In line with the worst interpretation of the Gospel stories, his Jesus is hardly recognizable as the faithful Jew he may have been.

H. David Kirk
Brentwood Bay, B.C.

"To the King of the Yellow Badge"
from Paul Eldridge's collection
I Bring a Sword (1945)

How long,
O Jesus,
Brother,
Flesh of our flesh and spirit of our spirit,
Shall you forgive them?
How high
Must the obelisk
Of malice
And murder
And torment
Rise?
Has it not pierced the heart of Heaven?
Has it not darkened the face of the stars? They know you not,
Your false and formal worshipers,
O Jesus,
Brother,
Flesh of our flesh and spirit of our spirit! Tell them –
You are their victim,
You wear the badge,
You are the stifled one
In ghettos of walls
And ghettos of hate –
Tell them –
Yours is the back
On which presses
And rises
The measureless obelisk
Of malice
And murder
And torment –
Tell them –
Their paeans
And their prayers
Mock you and scourge you –
Tell them –
Their knees but bend
To wood and to nails!

How long
Shall you forgive them,
O Jesus
O brother,
Flesh of our flesh and spirit of our spirit?

^TOP