1 ESDRAS CHAPTER 1 - 5

1 ESDRAS

The first book of Esdras, after the council of Trent called 3 Esdras, is largely a recapitulation or early source of parts of Ezra, Nehemiah, and 2 Chronicles. The ordering of events and contents is also a matter of continuing research and speculation. But the book has consistently been acknowledged to be of canonical value in the Eastern Church and so is incorporated here in the late western tradition, although eastern canons place both 1 and 2 Esdras after 2 Chronicles. The text is based on published Greek and recuperated Greek versions and their translations.

1 ESDRAS 1

1 Josiah kept Passover in
Jerusalem his Lord to win,
He offered the Passover on
The fourteenth day at eve not dawn
Of the first month, 2 having appointed
The priests in their groups and anointed
Arrayed in their garments within
The temple of YHWH without sin.
3 And he told the Levites, who served
As temple servants well-deserved
Of Israel, that they sanctify
Themselves to YHWH and then put by
The holy ark of YHWH inside
The house which Solomon with pride
The king, the son of David, built.
4 And he said “You don’t need to carry
It on your shoulders any more.
Now worship YHWH your Ælohim
And serve His people Israel marry,
And prepare yourselves by the score
Of your families and kindred’s scheme,
5 And in accordance with directions
Of David Israel’s king’s selections
And Solomon’s magnificence
Who was his son. Stand in array
In the temple in its incense
According to the dignity
Of the fathers’ houses today
Of you Levites, who serve and see
Before your brothers Israel’s folk,
6 And offer the Passover and
Prepare the sacrifice at hand
For your brothers, of which I spoke,
And observe the Passover by
Commandment of YHWH which was by
Moses given and not to lie.”

Until the time of King Josiah’s reign
The Levites held the ark and without strain
Took it in full procession in the crowd
While David’s choir praised the Lord aloud.
The king removed the ark to hiding place
So it should not appear to hand or face
And be a danger to the milling folk.
So glory veiled and You then never spoke.
Beloved, I take the ark down from my shoulder,
And with no trepidation, even bolder,
I set it in the temple of my heart,
And leaving shoulder, leaving kine and cart,
I seek Your presence veiled from human sight.
May Axum keep its secrets and its right.

7 And Josiah gave to the folk
Who were present and at one stroke
Thirty thousand lambs and kids, and
Three thousand calves able to stand,
These were given from the king’s hand,
As he promised, to the folk and
The priests and Levites of the land..
8 Hilkiah, Zechariah, and
Jehiel, the chief officers
Of the temple, gave to the fers
Of priests for the Passover two
Thousand six hundred sheep and due
Three hundred calves. 9 And Jeconiah,
Shemaiah, Nethanel his brother,
And Hashabiah and another
Ochiel and Joram, as chiefs
Over thousands, gave in reliefs
The Levites for Passover five
Thousand sheep and of calves alive
Seven hundred. 10 And then this took place.
The priests and Levites, all dressed up,
And with unleavened bread to sup,
Stood in groups of their kin and kind
11 According to ancestors’ grind
In front of all the folk to make
The offering to YHWH as in stake
Writ in the book of Moses, and
That’s what they did in morning planned.
12 They roasted the Passover lamb
Over a fire, by diagram,
And boiled the sacrifices in
Brass pots and pans with pleasing din,
13 And brought them out to all the folk.
Afterward they prepared the stroke
Of Passover for themselves and
For their brothers the priests as planned,
The sons of Aaron, 14 since each priest
Was offering fat till night increased.
So Levites made it for themselves
And for their brother priests and elves,
The sons of Aaron on their shelves.
15 The temple singers, Asaph’s sons,
Stood according to ranks and tons
Set up by David, and Asaph,
Zechariah and not to laugh
Eddinus, who were the king’s staff.
16 The gatekeepers were at each gate;
No one needed to go out late
From his duties, for the Levites
Their brothers had the oversights
Of the Passover for their rights.
17 That day they accomplished all that
Stood with YHWH’s sacrifice and sat
To keep the Passover down pat.
18 They offered sacrifices on
YHWH’s altar according to drawn
Command of king Josiah gone.
19 And Israel’s folk there at the time
Observed the Passover and rime
Of feast of yeastless bread seven days.
20 No such Passover for its praise
Had been in Israel since the ways
Of Samuel the prophet for stays.
21 None of Israel’s kings had kept such
A Passover as was in touch
By Josiah and the priests and
Levites and men of Judah’s land
And all of Israel who were there
Living in Jerusalem’s share.
22 In the eighteenth year of the reign
Of Josiah Passover’s lain.

I stand within the temple gates to pray
Upon the blessed Paschal holiday.
I stand within the four gates, sacrifice
On every hand, the temple singers, twice
Blessed from the mouth of David, prophesy
With harp and tongue, the sacred testify
For priests and Levites of this temple air.
Alone I stand among this wealth and bare.
I bring no offering here of sheep or goat,
I have no voice to sing Your praise by rote.
All are prepared with rich display and dress
Awaiting Your word and Your will to bless.
But I am all alone without a lamb,
No other sacrifice but what I am.

23 The deeds of Josiah were good
In the sight of YHWH as they should,
His heart was full of hardihood.
24 What happened in his reign is writ
Before of those who sinned a bit
And wickedly walked before YHWH
More than any other folk do
Or other kingdom, as they grieved
YHWH greatly, so YHWH’s words believed
Rose against Israel unreprieved.
25 After all these deeds of Josiah,
It happened Pharaoh, the pariah
King of Egypt, went to make war
At Carchemish upon the shore
Of the Euphrates, and Josiah
Went out against him to come nigher.
26 The king of Egypt sent him word,
Saying, "What have we come and heard
Of one another, Judah’s bird?
27 “I was not sent against you by
YHWH Ælohim, for my war-cry
Is at the Euphrates, and now
YHWH is with me! The Lord somehow
Is with me to drive me to war.
So turn aside from blood and gore
And do not fight against YHWH more."
28 Josiah did not turn away
To his chariot in the fray,
But sought to fight him, and did not
Hearken to Jeremiah taught,
The prophet from the mouth of YHWH.
29 He engaged him in battle’s view
In the plain of Megiddo, and
The commanders came down in band
Against King Josiah to stand.
30 The king said to his servants, "Take
Me from the battlefield at stake,
For I am weak about to faint."
Directly his servants took him
Out of the line of battle grim.
31 He got into another cart,
And when he had been brought apart
Back to Jerusalem, he died,
Was buried by his fathers’ side.
32 In all Judea they mourned for
Josiah. The prophet in store,
Jeremiah lamented for
Josiah, and the chief men too,
With the women, to this day too
Have made lamentation for him.
It was a legislation trim
That always this should be done through
The whole nation of Israel’s crew.
33 These things are written in the book
Of kings of Judea to look,
And each of Josiah’s acts too,
And his glory and his ado
To know the commandments of YHWH,
And the things that he’d done before
And these that are now told by score,
They are recorded in the book
Of Israel’s and Judah’s kings, look.

Josiah’s fateful death is prophecy
Beloved, of later deaths beside the lea
Of that great river of Euphrates where
The sacrifice of ages was laid bare.
It was not, so it seems, enough that Abel
Was killed to waken conscience at the table
Of all negotiations past and coming.
So Miriam died, and Jonathan and Saul,
And Jeremiah also met death humming,
And Jesus Christ, whose crowns of thorns appal,
And Hussayn’s martyrs thirsting by the crane
And by its call forlorn without a gain.
Josiah’s fateful death and lamentation
Continue to recall a world and nation.

34 Then the folk took Jehoahaz,
The son of Joash, and with snazz
Set him to reign instead of dad
Josiah when he only had
Twenty-three years under his belt.
35 He reigned in Judea and felt
Jerusalem for three months, then
The king of Egypt came again
And dethroned him from reigning in
Jerusalem, 36 set a tax bin
Upon the land in such a sum
As one hundred talents to hum
Of silver and one talent told
To be paid out in purest gold.
37 The king of Egypt also made
Jehoiachim his frère arrayed
To rule king in Judea’s land
And in Jerusalem first hand.
38 He bound Jehoiachim and those
Of the nobles, the ones he chose,
But Zaraces his brother he
Arrested and brought him in fee
Out of Egypt’s dale and prairie.
39 Jehoiachim was twenty-five
Years old when he began to thrive
As king of Judea and of
Jerusalem as said above.
And he did evil in YHWH’s sight.

The evil men do often is brought on
By ignorance or fear of Egypt’s brawn
And all the strength of rising Babylon.
That’s why the Lutheran says none can keep
Your commandments, Beloved, set in a heap,
But all sin is inevitable weep,
So none must be accused of doing wrong,
Which is why the victim of evil song
Is hated and the perpetrator made
A hero in the Lutheran parade.
No doubt Jehoiachim was justified
In doing evil in YHWH’s sight for pride.
So justification’s a dogma well
Set in the plot of heathen rite and spell.

40 That’s why Nebuchadnezzar king
Of Babylon came up to sing
Against him, and bound with a chain
Of brass and carried him in train
To Babylon. 41 Some holy pots
Nebuchadnezzar took in lots
From YHWH and carried them away
And set them in his own gods’ sway
In Babylon. 42 But those things set
In record of him and regret
Of uncleanness, impiety,
Are written in the records free
Of the kings of the fair country.
43 Jehoiachin his son reigned in
His place, and he was granted bin
To reign when he was eighteen years
Old, 44 and he reigned as it appears
Just three months and ten days in fears
And in Jerusalem, and did
Evil before YHWH’s sight in bid.
45 Nebuchadnezzar in one year
Sent and brought him into the fear
Of Babylon and with the things
Holy to YHWH before the kings.

Nebuchadnezzar was a mighty man
To depose kings by sword and thoughtful plan.
When Jehoiachin ruled three months and ten
Days in Jerusalem over its men,
He did wickedly in Your sight and You
Delivered him to Babylonian crew.
I sit today under the tents of those
Who are the daughters of Babylon’s throes,
And see the wickedness of Babylon
Spread out in every Christian sort of brawn.
Is it for wickedness that no man can
Rise up and shake the chains of scorn from Dan
To Beersheba, from Arkangel to Rome?
In house arrest I keep myself at home.

46 And he made Zedekiah king
And in Judea and the ring
Jerusalem when he was twenty
One years old and he reigned in plenty
Eleven years. 47 And he also
Did evil in the sight of YHWH,
And did not care a whit to hear
Words spoken from prophetic ear
To him by Jeremiah from
The mouth of YHWH such words as come.
48 And though King Nebuchadnezzar
Had made him swear by YHWH’s name’s star,
He broke his oath and he rebelled;
And he stiffened his neck, unquelled
Hardened his heart to break the laws
Of YHWH, Israel’s Ælohim’s clause.
49 Even the leaders of the folk
And of the priests acted and broke
The law with acts of sacrilege
And lawlessness beyond the edge
Of unclean acts in foreign lands,
Polluting YHWH’s house with their hands
That had been sanctified in town
Jerusalem and with renown.

The church indeed is modern Judah’s fort,
That copies heathen songs and deeds for sport.
Worse than the pagan rituals of old
That fornicated under groves and told
Sweet stories of the dying god who came
To resurrect and cure men of all blame,
These churches accept every filthy tool,
Make slaves of Slavs and bring them to the rule
Of Amsterdam to fornicate in pool
With bishops and with presidents in name.
Beloved, I see that history’s the same
Wherever I turn looking for the right,
I find the altar is raised in my sight
To offer up the tender and the bright.

50 The Ælohim of their dads sent
By messenger’s hand to prevent
And call them back, because He wanted
To spare them and his house unvaunted.
51 But they made fun of messengers,
And when YHWH would speak to the fers,
They scoffed at His prophets undaunted,
52 Until His wrath arose to fly
Against His folk because for why
Their wicked actions, so He gave
Command to bring against them grave
Kings of Chaldeans to enslave.
53 These killed their youths using the sword
Beside their sacred temple’s ward,
They did not save young man or girl,
Old man or child to give a whirl,
But he delivered all of them
Into their hands, into their hem.
54 And all Muhammad’s instruments
For YHWH, both large and small in sense,
The treasure chests of YHWH and more,
The contents of the royal store,
They took away and carried off
To Babylon where they could scoff.
55 They burned the house of YHWH and broke
Jerusalem’s walls at a stroke
And burned their towers with fire of oak.
56 They spoiled completely everything
Of glory in the sacred wing.
Those who were left he took away
To Babylon under sword’s sway.
57 They became servants to himself
And to his sons until with stealth
The Persians started in their rule
Fulfilling YHWH’s word by the school
Of Jeremiah: 58 “Till the land
Has had the joy of sabbaths’ hand
It shall keep Sabbath all the time
Of desolation till the crime
End with seventy years in prime.”

The wall of my fair city’s broken down,
And Sabbath’s driven out of every town
So that the king of Babylon in state
May rule by selling things by ton in crate.
The wall of my Jerusalem is bare
And stacked with guns to keep away the fair,
So that the bishop of Babylon’s spawn
May say a quiet word into the dawn
To prop up his hypocrisy and make
The populace a slain lamb at the stake.
Beloved, I live in Babylon but still
I turn to You and Jerusalem’s hill.

1 ESDRAS 2

1 In the first year of Cyrus king
Of the Persians, the word took wing
From YHWH by mouth of Jeremiah
To be accomplished by the crier,
2 That YHWH stirred up the spirit of
Cyrus king of Persians above,
And he proclaimed throughout his realm
And also put not to dishelm
The thing in writing, 3 “Thus says he,
Cyrus king of the Persians’ quay,
The Lord of Israel, YHWH Most High,
Has made me ruler under sky
Of the world, 4 and he has commanded
Me to build Him a house demanded
At Jerusalem, which is in
Judea. 5 If any one’s kin
Among you, therefore, of His folk,
May his Lord be with noble bloke,
And let him go up to the town
Of Jerusalem, which is down
In Judea, and build the tent
Of YHWH of Israel as sent,
For He is YHWH who dwells there in
Jerusalem, 6 and let each kin,
Wherever he may live, be aided
By the men of his place paraded
With gold and silver, 7 and with gifts,
With horses and cattle for lifts,
Besides the other things to add
As votive offerings for the glad
Temple of YHWH where it is found
In Jerusalem on the ground.”

The Persian ruler’s often sent by You,
Beloved, to turn about the thing and do
Righteousness on the earth, it’s a thing true.
Out of fair Persia comes the bright command
To rebuild Your temple in every land.
I see the law rise up, in justice stand,
Giving the right example in the view
Of every state and country where men stew.
Beloved, make Persia strong to show Your word
To all mankind wherever they are stirred,
And give the right a place once under sun
As You did when You threw down Babylon.
The story whirls about like dervish stroke,
Returning and returning easy yoke.

8 Then there arose the families’ chiefs
Of the tribes of Judah in feoffs
And Benjamin, and the priests and
The Levites, and all of the band
Whose spirit YHWH had stirred to go
Up to build the house in the show
Of Jerusalem and for YHWH.
9 And their neighbours helped them to do
Everything, with silver and gold,
With horses and cattle, untold
Numbers of offerings from the many
Whose ears were smitten more than any.
10 Cyrus the king also brought out
The holy pots of YHWH for shout,
Which Nebuchadnezzar had taken
Away from Jerusalem shaken
And stored in temple of his gods.
11 When Cyrus king of Persian sods
Brought these out, he gave them into
Hand of Mithridates his due
Steward, 12 and by him they were given
To Sheshbazzar the chief unshriven
Of Judah’s land. 13 Number of these
Was: a thousand gold cups to please,
A thousand silver cups, and yet
Twenty-nine silver censers set,
Thirty gold bowls, two thousand four
Hundred and ten silver bowls more,
And a thousand other pots’ store.
14 All the vessels were handed over,
Gold and silver into the trover,
Five thousand and four hundred and
Sixty-nine to make up the stand,
15 And they were all taken back by
Sheshbazzar with returning guy,
The exiles from Babylon to
Jerusalem, city in view.

The efforts were three-pronged to build
Jerusalem again. The project filled
The hearts and hands of those who left to live
Upon the barren soil, and those to give
The monetary aid but stayed behind
In comfort of the civilized and kind.
The third group was the crown and government.
Upon these three depended sentiment.
Beloved, I see the trinity at work
As Israel again rises to quirk:
The ones who go to Palestine to stay,
The neighbours who remain behind to pay,
And US government to boot the score.
Times do not change, alas, nor does the shore.

16 In time of Artaxerxes king
Of Persians, Bishlam, Mithridates,
Tabeel, Rehum, Beltethmus rates,
Shimshai the scribe, and all the rest
Of their companions at their best,
Living in Samaria and
Other places, wrote him demand
Against those who were living in
Judea and Jerusalem:
17 "To King Artaxerxes our lord,
Your servants Rehum to record
And Shimshai the scribe and the other
Judges of their council of brother
In Coelesyria and the land
Of Phoenicia by the sea sand:
18 “Let it be known to our lord king
That Jews who came up from your wing
To us have gone into the town
Jerusalem and without frown
Are building that rebellious town
And wicked one, repairing its
Market places, its wall that fits
And starting on a temple thing.
19 “Now if this city’s built, its wall
Completed, they will not just stall
At paying tribute but resist
Even kings with rebellious fist.
20 “And since the building of the place
Is now proceeding at a pace
We don’t want to neglect our trace,
21 “But address ourselves to our lord
The king, so that if you’re not bored,
You search your ancestors’ record.
22 “You will find in the chronicles
What has been written of their pulls,
And will learn this rebellious town
Troubled kings and those of renown,
23 “And that the Jews were rebels and
Kept setting up there to withstand
From times immemorial in the land.
That’s why this city was destroyed.

The sons of witches only told the truth,
And that will be enough for every youth
Who hears the words to come down on the side
Of king and country, let the Jews just slide.
The truth is the best way to do the wrong,
And past experience a firm guide, strong
To indicate what will occur in place
When someone rises up from his disgrace.
Beloved, I take the side of underdog,
This time it’s Jews, but in the human fog
It could be anyone out just to make
A life and live to correct some mistake.
But some office clerk always comes along
To spoil the progress of the victory song.

24 “So now we have come here employed
To let you know, O lord and king,
That if this city’s built with wing
Of walls completed, you will not
Have more access to treasure pot
Of Coelesyria and the lot
Phoenicians bring out on the trot."
25 The king, in reply to Rehum
The recorder and in his room
Beltethmus and Shimshai the scribe
And their companions on the bribe
In Samaria and Syria
And in the land of Phoenicia,
Wrote as follows: 26 "Now I have read
The letter which you sent my head.
So I commanded search be made,
And found out this town has waylaid
Kings from ancient times on parade.
27 “The men in it had penchant for
Rebellion and for wanton war,
And great and awful kings ruled in
Jerusalem and brought to bin
Tribute from Coelesyria and
The Phoenicians in their own land.
28 “So I have now issued command
Preventing these men from the task
Of building the city and ask
To take care that no more be done
29 “So such evil actions to stun
Kings go no further under sun."
30 So when the letter from the King
Artaxerxes was read to sing,
Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and
Their contriving companion band
Quickly went to Jerusalem,
With horsemen and in stratagem
Of army in battle array,
To stop the builders in their way.
So building of the temple in
Jerusalem ceased till the din
Of second year of the reign of
Darius king of Persians’ love.

The argument that clinches truthful tale
Is that the treasury’s about to fail.
That always fetches every crowd to make
The policy turn inside out mistake.
Stop building on the city and the site
Of temple and the king’s gate will go right.
Stop building up the earthly tabernacle,
And civil servants stay for rod and tackle.
Beloved, let not the building of my room
Invisible and inner meet the doom,
But daily rise in praises to the skies
That You are true behind all the disguise,
And I shall bow within the chamber bare
And find the gold of love there everywhere.

1 ESDRAS 3

1 Now King Darius gave a great
Feast for all those under his state
And all born in his house and all
The nobles of the Median hall
As well as from the Persian call.
2 And all the satraps and the chiefs
Of armies and the rulers’ sheafs
Under him in the satrapies
A hundred twenty-seven’s ease
From India to Ethiopia.
3 They ate and drank, when they were done
They left satisfied for the fun,
Darius the king went into
His chamber, went to sleep on cue,
And then woke up. 4 So three young men
Of his guards, who kept guard again
Over the person of the king,
Said to each other on the wing,
5 "Let each of us say what one thing
Is strongest, and the one who makes
The wisest choice for the king’s sakes
Darius will have wealth and power
Of honour in victorious hour.
6 “He’ll be clothed in purple, and drink
From gold cups, and sleep on brink
Of a gold bed, and have a car
With golden fenders and on head
A turban of fine linen spread,
And necklace on his neck instead.
7 “And for his wisdom he shall sit
Next to Darius and called fit
To be Darius’ kinsman bred.”

The dreams of grandeur that some soldiers make
A-whiling time in guard duty and stake
Are all the same. The play of boys in sand
Turns into play of soldiers on the land.
Put three young men together and they’ll soon
Be gambling if for nothing else the moon,
And saying which of them is strongest in
Arm-wrestling for a grimace or a grin.
Beloved, my competition on that bore
Was never more than school-grades at the door,
And those were always of one coloured score.
Futility of such play came to me
Too young to make the final, sloping spree.
I watch the young men sprawling there idly.

8 Each wrote his own epistle and
They sealed them and put them to stand
Under king Darius’s pillow
9 And said "When the king wakes, the bill, oh,
Will be given to him and then
To the one who is above men
According to the king and three
Nobles of Persia judge to be
The winner of the victory,
Shall be given a handsome fee.”
10 The first wrote, "Wine is strongest here."
11 The second wrote, "The king’s to fear."
12 The third wrote, "Women are the greatest,
But truth wins over all the latest."
13 When the king woke up, then they took
The letters and gave him to look.
14 He sent and summoned all the great
Nobles of Persian Median state
And the satraps and army chiefs,
And governors beyond beliefs,
15 And he took his seat in the room
Of council, and the letters’ bloom
Was read before them all to doom.

It is amazing that the king’s court has
No better thing to do but hear such jazz,
And yet I praise Darius and his crew
For play and wit instead of looking to
The killing that’s so prevalent about
Those who have power over both field and scout.
It is amazing that the king on throne
Is up for throwing dice and crossing bone.
Beloved, the very hand that says the word
That one shall live and one shall have life blurred
Does so in one aside, and then returns
To jesting and to play for what it earns.
Beloved, do You play on the throne that lies
Above the universe in Your disguise?

16 And he said, "Call the young men, and
They shall explain their words’ command.”
So they were summoned, and came in.
17 And they said to them, "Give the bin
Of explanation for your din.”
Then the first, who had taken wine
To be the strongest thing and fine,
Began and said 18 "Sirs, you must know
How wine’s the strongest thing to go.
It leads astray the minds of all
Who drink it in the judgement hall.
19 It sets on the same plane the mind
Of king and orphan, slave and free,
Of poor and the rich and refined.
20 It turns every thought to the spree
Of feasting and mirth, and forgets
All sorrow as well as all debts.
21 It makes all hearts feel rich, forgets
Kings and satraps, and makes each one
Talk in the myriad ways of fun.
22 When men drink they forget to be
Friendly with friends and brothers, see,
They draw their swords immediately.
23 And when they wake up from the wine,
They don’t remember asinine.
24 Sirs, is not wine strongest, since it
Forces men to do things unfit?"
And so he finished speaking wit.

Wine is truly the strongest of the things
Not mentioned in the Decalogue with strings!
It woos the soul away from You as God
Alone above the heavens and the sod.
It fabricates a form in mind of all,
And makes forget Your name on which to call.
It turns the Sabbath rest into a folly,
Dishonours both the dad and mom, by golly,
It kills by thousands every year on wheels,
And makes a man lie with any high heels,
Not able to distinguish what’s his own,
Or whether what he says is true or bone.
It makes a man desire what is not his
Just for a taste of alcoholic fizz.

1 ESDRAS 4

1 The second spoke about the king
And how he’s strongest in the ring.
2 “Sirs, are not men the strongest who
Rule land and sea, what’s in them too?
3 “But the king’s stronger; he’s their lord
And master, and they’re in accord
With what he says to them. 4 If he
Tells them to make war in a spree,
They do so, and if he sends out
Against the enemy in rout,
They go, and conquer mountains stout,
And walls, and towers of redoubt.
5 “They kill and are killed, and do not
Neglect the king's command for aught,
If they have fought with victory,
They bring all to the king in fee,
Whatever spoil and all they take.

The king is strong because he commands war,
And yet the wine is stronger on the floor,
They say for Alexander, gay and drunk.
The king is still strong in his spick and spunk.
I am convinced of wine, I am convinced
The king is strongest of all those who winced,
And hear of strength is force to do and say,
And in the mighty power of arms at fray.
And yet, Beloved, I find a stronger task
In vignette of the Persian court to last,
Where men play at the same games then as now
And touch with wit and human sort of brow.
The strength of human heart through centuries
Arises here to shine through changing trees.

6 “The same can be said for those who
Do not serve in the army crew
Or make war but just plough the soil,
Whenever they saw, reap the toil
Of harvest and bring to the king
Some in tribute, and so they sting
Each other to pay taxes’ coil.
7 “And yet he is only one man!
If he tells them to kill, they scan
To kill; if he tells them let go,
They let go, 8 “if he says attack,
Then they attack; if he tells them
To spoil, they spoil by stratagem;
If he tells them to build, they build;
9 “If he says cut down, they’ve fulfilled
His orders; if he tells them plant,
They plant. 10 “All his folk and his hosts
Obey him. Moreover, in boasts
He lies down, eats and drink not scant,
And then he sleeps, 11 “but they keep guard
Around him and no one is starred
To go to his own affairs, so
They do not disobey his row.
12 “Sirs, why is not the king the best,
Since he’s obeyed by all the rest?"
And so he stopped his speech and quest.

They also serve the king who do not wait
For the command to battle in the strait,
But stand to give him food and drink and wine,
And slaughter sacrifices for him fine,
And bathe the women and anoint them all
With perfumes before they answer his call.
The kingly state is such, that all men share
In serving him, both soldier and the rare.
Beloved, I strike a blow for You when I,
Who am no soldier even on the sly,
Affirm Your kingly state in what I do
In praise and service for the temple true
Of David and the heart. Yet over You
There is Your own strength, justice for the few.

13 The third, that is Zerubbabel,
Who wrote of women and truth well,
Began to speak. 14 “Sirs, I can tell
The king is great as many men,
And wine is strong too in the den,
And who then is their master, lord?
Is it not women who’re adored?
15 “Women gave birth to the king and
To all folk ruling sea and land.
16 “From woman they have come, and she
Nurtured the very men’s degree
Who plant the vineyards growing wine.
17 “Women make men's clothes; they bring fine
Glory to men; men cannot be
Existing without womenly.
18 “If men gather silver and gold
Or any beautiful thing sold,
See woman lovely to behold
In beauty, 19 they let all things go,
And gaze at her, and so they stare
With open mouths, and all prefer
Her to gold or silver or such
Other beautiful things to touch.
20 “A man will leaves his father, who
Brought him up, and his own place too,
And stick to his own wife in view.
21 “With his wife he will end his days,
With no thought of his father’s ways
Or mother or his country’s praise.
22 “So you must know that women rule
Over you all as though in school!
Do you not work and toil to bring
All to put under women’s wing?

Commandment is to honour mom and dad,
So does this mean a breach when the man’s sad
To leave them both and fly into the land
Where his own wife is stirring contraband?
Perhaps the greater honour done to those
Fair creatures who sired and gave birth and rose
To nurture the man is also to spend
Himself on rearing children to that end.
Beloved, Zerubbabel looks at the state
Of heathen men and finds that men relate
So lovingly to wives as to stay long
And end their days with them however strong.
They say the Persians to this day are set
As servants to their wives, I make no bet.

23 “A man will take his sword and go
Out to travel and rob not slow,
And sail the seas and rivers too,
24 “Face lions, and walk in darkness’ rue,
And when he steals and robs and plunders,
He brings it all back as in wonders
To the woman he loves for thunders.
25 “A man loves his wife more than dad
Or mother. 26 “Many men, it’s sad,
Have lost their minds to women’s charge,
And they have become slaves at large.
27 “Many have perished, stumbled, sinned,
Because some women smiled or grinned.
28 “And do you not believe me now?
Is not the king great in his brow?
Do not all lands fear to touch him?
29 “Yet I have seen him with Apame,
The royal concubine, the daughter
Of the famed Bartacus in slaughter;
And she’d sit at the king's right hand
30 “And take the crown like firebrand
From the king's head and put it on
Her own, and slap the king upon
The cheek with her left hand up-drawn.
31 “And then the king would stare at her
With mouth wide open at the spur.
If she smiles at him, then he laughs;
If she loses her temper gaffs,
He flatters her till she has calmed.
32 “Sirs, why are women so empalmed,
Since they do such things, more by half?"

Zerubbabel gives a sight of the court
Of Persian kings so intimate in sport
That I sit back amazed to see that he
Dares mention concubine’s past perfidy.
Zerubbabel’s a Sufi in the track
Of ages since that dared to turn a back
On kings to spy on caravan saray
Where come and go pass under changeless sky.
Beloved, the argument that woman is
Stronger that king or wine embellishes
A greater argument, the tone of truth,
That changeless rules over old age and youth:
Despite the forces that compete for rule,
There is no I but You, how deep the pool.

33 Then the king and the nobles looked
At one another; then he brooked
To speak about the truth: 34 "Sirs, are
Not women strong? The earth runs far,
And heaven is high, the sun is swift
In its course, for it makes the round
Of heavens and comes back safe and sound
To its place in single day’s bound.
35 “Is it not great who does these things?
But truth is great, above all things.
36 “The whole earth calls upon the truth,
And heaven blesses her with ruth.
All God's works quake and tremble, and
With Him nothing wicked will stand.
37 “Wine’s impotent, and so’s the king,
Women are without strength of wing,
All sons of men lack in their power,
All their works endure but an hour,
To perish under the truth’s tower.
38 “But truth endures in strength to be
Alive to rule eternity.

What is true in all things to see around
Upon the universe, upon the ground,
Is but reflection of reality,
Of truth, and You alone, Beloved, I see
Are Truth to live and rule eternally.
Illusion that I am and do is just
The mirror of Your being on the dust.
There is no truth nor any power to be
Beside You only, only You are found.
Evil is defined by the ring that thinks
There is any reality on brinks
Except You only. All creation lies
In pretence of its being in disguise.
I turn to see You and greet my demise.

39 Truth is impartial, does not pay
Mind to a preference one day,
But always does the righteous thing
Instead of wickedness on wing.
All men approve her deeds 40 and there
Is no wrong in her judgement’s care.
To her is power and rulership,
Strength and majesty to the hip.
Blessed be the God of truth aware!”
41 He stopped his speaking, then the folk
All shouted saying at a stroke,
"Great is truth, and strongest of all!"
42 The king then lent to him his call,
"Ask what you want, even more than
What’s promised, we will give the span
To you, for you have proved to be
The wisest among all the three.
And so you shall sit next to me,
And be called my kinsman in spe."

The argument of this reality
In which all men live both the bond and free
Ought to speak to all minds and hearts as in
This fairy-tale, but as I see men win
Their heart’s desires from day to day
I doubt that such wisdom in any royal bout
Could save the day. The reason for the rout
Is simply that Zerubbabel is stout
In rhetoric. It’s rare truth and that feet
Combine, but this time all can share the treat.
The silver tongue convinces, not the truth,
Yet truth wins not only the callow youth
But ever and all time, she cannot fail,
Since port of truth is under every sail.

43 Then he said to the king, "Remember
The vow you made to build the ember
Of old Jerusalem, the day
When you achieved the royal sway,
44 “And to send back the golden pots
Taken from Jerusalem’s lots,
Which Cyrus set apart when he
Entered Babylon’s artistry,
And vowed to send them all back there.
45 “You vowed to build the temple’s share,
That Edomites burned when Judah
Was laid waste by Chaldeans’ claw.
46 And now, O lord the king, it’s this
That I request in benefice,
And this befits your greatness too.
I pray therefore that you make true
The oath whose fulfilment that you
Vowed to the King of heaven to do
With your own lips with which you kiss."

The golden pots! The vessels most desired,
Named with the name in prophecy and fired,
Hemda in every parchment where the kings
Once had their good deeds praised and other things
Reported to their shame. The golden pots!
When Cyrus set apart the glowing lots
And promised to rebuild the castle where
King David used to reign upon the stair,
He started a tradition Persian rulers
Would be reminded of by their home-schoolers.
Beloved, I too seek that the inner room,
The home of ark and Decalogue till doom,
Be restored in myself and that the weight
Of love fall on the hillside where I wait.

47 Darius the king rose, and kissed
Him, and wrote letters undismissed
For him to all the treasurers
And governors and army fers
And satraps, that they should protect
Him and all who were of elect
To go up with him to rebuild
Jerusalem and have it filled.
48 He wrote epistles to all chiefs
In Coelesyria’s reliefs
And in Phoenicia and to
Those in Lebanon, to bring too
Cedar logs from Lebanon to
Jerusalem, and to help him
Rebuild the city firm and trim.
49 And he wrote for all the Jews who
Went up from his kingdom unto
Judea for their freedom’s stores,
That no officer or satrap
Or chief or treasurer in rap
Should force his way inside their doors;
50 That all the country where they stayed
Should be theirs without tribute laid;
The Idumeans should give up
The Jewish regions held in cup;
51 That twenty talents every year
Should be set for the building gear
Of the house till finished and sere.
52 Besides that ten talents a year
For burnt offerings offered with fear
On the altar on every day,
According to what the laws say
To make seventeen offerings’ way.

Beloved, I lay the morning prayer and see
The dawn grow brighter from my window tree.
I count throughout the day prostrations where
I lay my head in sacrifice and bear
Before Your throne my offerings seventeen.
When noon is past I come at once serene
From morning’s labours and see the strong light
Of day upon eight offerings before night.
At dusk I bring the perfect, full amount
And bow down seven times by evening count.
And thus the seventeen are daily laid
And thus Your true command is fully paid.
But I it is who reaps the good reward
Renewed in life and in the flaming sword.

53 And all who came from Babylon
To build the city as was drawn
Should have their freedom, they and their
Children and all the priests in share.
54 He wrote also concerning their
Support and the priests' clothing fur
In which they were to minister.
55 He ordered Levites’ provisions
Until the time the temple’s runs
Should be done and Jerusalem
Rebuilt by the king’s stratagem.
56 He ordered land and wages be
Provided for town guards in fee.
57 And he sent back from Babylon
All the pots which Cyrus had drawn,
Everything Cyrus ordered done,
He also commanded be done
And sent up to Jerusalem.

The city Babylon’s long fallen through
The cunning of Persian and Median crew,
Who diverted the river running by
The watergates, and so lies under sky.
I peer out from the everlasting gates
And see the rise and fall of human states,
And reckon on the sheep scattered to browse
Among the ruins of contented cows.
Beloved, I seek my freedom from the walls
That once encircled Babylon’s rich stalls,
And take my way across the desert where
The golden city meets my eager stare,
The Kidron sinks below my watching gaze,
And peace at last enters my counted days.

58 When the young man went out, he turned
His face to heaven toward the burn
Of old Jerusalem, and praised
The King of heaven, saying amazed,
59 "From You is victory; from You
Is wisdom, and Yours is the due
Glory. I am Your servant true.
60 “Blessed are You, who have given me
Wisdom; I give You thanks in fee,
O Lord of our fathers." 61 So he
Took the epistles, and went to
Babylon and told this all to
His brothers. 62 And they praised the God
Of their ancestors in the sod,
Because He had given them release
And permission on the increase
63 To go and build Jerusalem
And the temple called by His name,
And they feasted, with music and
Rejoicing, for seven days’ band.

For seven days I feast and praise Your name
While righteously another bears the shame
Of fasting in obedience to command.
I feast on food and fasting out of hand.
Your presence at the humblest meal atones
For lack of fine sweetmeats and chicken bones.
Your presence at the secret fast tastes better
Than pleasant bread and drink made to the letter.
And so I spend my seven days in sport,
While wooden hut turns into marble court.
Count me not righteous for the things I do,
Give me no great reward for deed and true,
I find enough and more to spare of good
As I revel where others mourn and should.

1 ESDRAS 5

1 After this the chiefs of each house
Of the ancestors chose with spouse
To go up, with their tribes and wives
And sons and daughters and their hives
Of servants and maids and their cattle.
2 Darius sent with them for battle
A thousand horsemen to lead back
To Jerusalem without flack,
And with music of drums and flutes;
3 And all their brothers danced in boots.
And he made them go up with them.
4 These are the names in stratagem
Of the men who went up, by their
Fathers' houses in the tribes’ share,
Over their groups: 5 the priests, the sons
Of Phinehas, of Aaron’s sons;
Jeshua son of Jozadak,
Son of Seraiah, and the hack
Joakim Zerubbabel’s son,
The son of Shealtiel when done:
Of David’s house, of lineage of
Phares, of tribe of Judah’s love,
6 Who spoke wise words before Darius
The king of the Persians to spy us,
In the second year of his reign,
In the month of Nisan profane,
The first month of the year to gain.

I wonder how many men marched in band
To play the drums and flutes throughout the land
Along the road from Shushan to the grand
Hills of Judea and the open hand
Of broken, torn Jerusalem to stand.
Of all the men who marched and played the fife
For joy or drummed for man and child and wife
To joy along the way toward the town,
I wonder how many of them went down
To Palestine to stay, how many trekked
The weary way back from the trip out decked.
The life of a musician can be hard
When journeys are made here and yon with pard
And jet-lag stumps even with credit card.

7 These are the men of Judea
Who came up out of their bed straw
Of the captivity, whom king
Nebuchadnezzar of the ring
Of Babylon had carried off
To Babylon for scorn and scoff
8 And who came to Jerusalem
And the rest of Judea’s hem,
Each to his own town. They came there:
Zerubbabel and Jeshua,
Nehemiah, Seraiah’s share,
Resaiah, Bigvai, Mordecai,
Bilshan, Mispar, Reeliah,
Rehum, and Baanah, all their chiefs.
9 The number of men of the folk
And their leaders above the yoke:
The sons of Parosh, two thousand
One hundred seventy-two in band.
The sons of Shephatiah, four
Hundred and seventy-two more.
10 The sons of Arah, seven hundred
And fifty-six, so many led.
11 And then the sons of Pahathmoab,
Of the sons of Jeshua and Joab,
Two thousand eight hundred and twelve.
12 The sons of Elam dig and delve,
One thousand two hundred in store
And added to that fifty-four.
The sons of Zattu, nine hundred
And forty-five came without dread.
The sons of Chorbe, seven hundred
And five. The sons of Bani late,
Numbered six hundred forty-eight.
13 The sons of Bebai, six hundred
Twenty-three. The sons of Azgad,
One thousand three hundred in view
And finally add twenty-two.
14 The sons of Adonikam, six
Hundred and sixty-seven picks.
The sons of Bigvai, two thousand
And sixty-six all in one band.
The sons of Adin, four hundred
And fifty-four in one band led.

Over the generations of the way
In captive thrall and royal heathen sway
The word was whispered down to everyone
Born in the far-off places under sun
The name of his own city and the place
Where his ancestors ran the righteous race.
So every man returned to his own town
And saw the longed-for mother in the gown
Of sparkling dawn. I wonder if the rest
After the mythic songs looked for the best.
I wonder if the barren fields and stone
Seemed compensation for the Persian bone.
Or were they disappointed with the light
New wakened on Jerusalem in sight?

15 The sons of Ater, that is of
Hezekiah, ninety-two, love.
The sons of Kilan and Azetas,
Sixty-seven, enough to defeat us.
The sons of Azaru, count four
Hundred and thirty-two in store.
16 The sons of Ananias, one
Hundred and one. Sons of Arom.
The sons of Bezai, three hundred
And twenty-three. The sons outspread
Of Jorah, one hundred and twelve.
17 The sons of Baiterus to shelve
Three thousand five. The sons to see
Of Bethlehem count twenty-three
And one hundred. 18 Netophah’s men,
Fifty-five to appear again.
The men of Anathoth relate
Up to one hundred fifty-eight.
The men of Bethasmoth in crew
Amount in all to forty-two.
19 The men of Kiriatharim live
Count up in all to twenty-five.
Men of Chephirah and Beeroth,
Seven hundred forty-three troth.
20 The Chadiasans and Ammidians,
Four hundred twenty-two for plans.
The men of Ramah and Geba,
Six hundred twenty-one in awe.
21 The men of Michmas, one hundred
And twenty-two, and the men led
Of Bethel, fifty-two. The sons
Of Magbish, one hundred on buns
And fifty-six. 22 And then the sons
Of second Elam and Ono,
Seven hundred twenty-five show.
And then the sons of Jericho,
Three hundred forty-five to go.

Beloved, the numbers do not always sync
With Ezra and Esdras the way I think
They should. Just see that twenty-eight is more
Than twenty-three, five more in fact in store.
What shall I do with five more men than those
I planned for in their princely roils and rows?
Some doubter’s likely to step on my toes
And point out how Your Word is out of print,
Or worse yet inaccurate for a hint.
Beloved, I retrench as I swallow pride
While pretending I am still on Your side.
If nothing else, at least the Decalogue
Is word consistent to a Dervish dog,
And so I wag my tail and take the ride.

23 The sons of Senaah, three thousand
Three hundred and thirty in band.
24 The priests: the sons of Jedaiah
Who was the son of Jeshua,
Of the sons of Anasib, nine
Hundred and seventy-two fine.
The sons of Immer, one thousand
And fifty-two upon the land.
25 The sons of Pashhur, one thousand
Two hundred forty-seven stand.
The sons of Harim, one thousand
And seventeen in finished band.
26 The Levites: sons of Jeshua
And Kadmiel, Bannas, Sudias’ paw,
Seventy-four. 27 The temple singers:
The sons of Asaph, all humdingers,
One hundred twenty-eight in a’.
28 The gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum,
The sons of Ater, sons of Talmon,
Sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita,
The sons of Shobai and none sweeter,
In all one hundred thirty-nine.

If one hundred and twenty-eight have come
To sing upon the temple of kingdom,
Then there are lacking of the quire the rate
A hundred and sixty of apostate.
Twelve times the twenty-four were set in room
By David, my Beloved, till time of doom,
And make the secret congregation of
The temple spires of singing sound and love.
Beloved, I stand alone beneath the tree
Of fir and pine and birch for aspen’s glee
And raise a slight voice in David’s fair speech
To sound Your glory for the faith of each.
I know that throughout earth the chosen fair
In full numbers join me to praise Your share.

29 The temple servants all dressed fine:
Sons of Ziha, of Hasupha,
The sons of Tabbaoth in awe,
The sons of Keros, of Siaha,
Sons of Padon, of Lebanah,
As well as sons of Hagabah,
30 The sons of Akkub, of Uthai,
The sons of Ketab on the sly,
The sons of Hagab, of Shamlai,
The sons of Hana, of Cathua,
The sons of Gahar, and to view her
31 The sons of Reaiah, the sons
Of Rezin, and come in their tons
The sons of Nekoda, the sons
Of Chezib, the sons of Gazzam,
The sons of Uzza’s epigram,
Sons of Paseah, of Hasrah,
Sons of Besai, sons of Asnah,
The sons of the Meunites a’,
The sons of Nephisim, the sons
Of Bakbuk, sons of Hakupha,
Sons of Asur, of Pharakim,
The sons of Bazluth for a dream,
32 The sons of Mehida, the sons
Of Cutha, sons of Charea,
Sons of Barkos, of Sisera,
Sons of Temah, of Neziah,
The sons of Hatipha in a’.
33 The sons of Solomon's servants:
The sons of Hassophereth dance,
The sons of Peruda, the sons
Of Jaalah, sons of Lozon’s buns,
The sons of Giddel, and the ones
Of Shephatiah, 34 and the sons
Of Hattil, and as it may seem
Sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim,
The sons of Sarothie, the sons
Of Masiah, the sons of Gas,
The sons of Addus at a pass,
The sons of Subas, of Apherra,
The sons of Barodis not narrow,
The sons of Shaphat, of Ami.
35 All the temple servants to spy
And sons of Solomon's servants
Three hundred seventy-two to prance.

The children of the servants of the son
Of David now return when day is done.
The centuries revolved about the way
That empires rise and fall by light of day.
The night work of the blessed in secret word
Is still transmitted by the golden bird
Of passioned faith that seals the lips outside,
But keeps the heart in faith’s unspoken pride.
A mother tells the second child and last,
A father spins the secret of the past,
While many go from cradle down to grave
Without an inkling of the Psalter’s brave.
I too have heard the message given by choice
To pass to both the worthies who rejoice.

36 The following are those who came
Up from Telmelah place of fame
And Telharsha, under the lead
Of Cherub, Addan, and with speed
Immer, 37 though they could not prove by
Their ancestors’ houses or rye
That they belonged to Israel:
The sons of Delaiah the swell
Son of Tobiah, the sons of
Nekoda, six hundred above
And fifty-two. 38 Of the priests these
Had taken the priesthood with ease
But were not found recorded there:
The sons of Habaiah, the sons
Of Hakkoz, the sons of Jaddus
Who had married Agia fair,
One of Barzillai’s daughters’ guns,
And was called by his name in bus.
39 And when the genealogy
Of these men was sought in degree
Of records and it was not found,
They threw them out upon the ground
Of serving as priests safe and sound.
40 And Nehemiah and Attharias
Told them not to share in nepharious
Holy things till a high priest come
To wear the Urim and Thummim.

Even the ancient priests sometimes felt right
By taking family name of wife for spite.
The patriarchal angle is not sure
And fast, but may be changed into the pure
Of matriarchy without falling flat.
Of course when Ezra gets a chance at that
He questions all the records and the truth
Of such doings among the callow youth.
But You, Beloved, need no line of defence,
No silsila nor chain of handing pence
In blessing to the sons and daughters round
The table of the human light and sound.
I take no name but Yours, Beloved, and find
I need no other name, but among blind.

41 All those of Israel, twelve or more
Years of age, and besides the store
Of servants and maids, were in count
Forty-two thousand to amount
To three hundred and sixty; 42 their
Servants and maids still in their care
Were seven thousand three hundred
And thirty-seven left in dread;
There were two hundred forty-five
Musicians and singers to thrive.

Ah, this is better, now the number rises
And lacks only among the solemn prizes
Forty-three singers with their harps in tune
To cantillate Your word to sun and moon.
Two hundred forty-five to speak the word
In temple court and standing undeterred
Arise in melodies of fire and grace
To find the ivory throne and divine face.
Beloved, I joy to know the spaces fill
As silently as cows upon the hill
Come down beside the fencerow and the lane
And through the smoking guardhouse without pain
To find the gentle evening and the calm
Of cowhouse well provided with the balm.

43 There were four hundred thirty-five
Camels, and seven thousand and
Thirty-six horses in the band,
Two hundred and forty-five mules,
And five thousand to follow rules
Of five hundred twenty-five donkeys.
44 Some of the heads of families’ tonkeys,
When they came to Ælohim’s house
Which is in Jerusalem’s grouse,
Swore they would build the place right there
Upon its site to their best care,
45 And that they’d give the sacred fund
For the work thousand rubicund
Minas of gold, five thousand more
Of silver, and one hundred store
Of priests' clothing inside the door.

The heads of families will always share
Their pigeoned wealth to relieve from the care
That death will swallow up their gathered fame
And leave them generations without name.
The brassy lettered docket tells the game,
The year and praises of the donor’s way,
And some stop to read of the bright display.
Beloved, I set myself no monument
In gold or silver, star, sun or crescent,
But take my memory of self from You
Upon the Sabbath day in humble pew
To sing with hedgehog and the magpie till
The sun has set against my fading hill.

46 The priests, the Levites, and some of
The people settled in the cove
Jerusalem and neighbourhood,
And the temple singers for good,
The gatekeepers, and all the folk
Of Israel in their own towns’ yoke.

I am a temple singer though without
The pedigree of Levite and the shout
Of bloodline from Egyptian painted crew.
And yet I raise my voice in praise of You.
I am a temple singer as I take
The melodies of David for Your sake
And drop them in the waiting Sabbath dawn
To hear them echo in the water drawn.
Beloved, I sing with temple singer now
What centuries ago was on the brow
Of Solomon’s house and the house that came
After it though of some diminished fame.
Today the house invisible is wrought
In every tone the Psalms of David taught.

47 When the seventh month came, the sons
Of Israel sat in their home runs,
Then gathered as a man before
The square of the east gate and door.
48 Then Jeshua Jozadak’s son,
With his fellow priests, and the gun
Zerubbabel Shealtiel’s son,
With his kinsmen, took their own places
And prepared the altar with graces
Of Israel’s Ælohim in traces,
49 To offer holocausts on it,
By the directions of the fit
Book of Moses Ælohim’s man.
50 And some joined with them from the span
Of other peoples of the land.
And they set up the altar there
In its place, for all the folk’s share
In the land were both foes to them
And stronger in their stratagem.
They offered sacrifices set
At their right times, holocausts met
To YHWH morning and evening yet.

The morning and the evening traces still
The streaks of glory on my nearest hill,
And set an altar and a slaughter ground
For human wills to tumble and to sound
The tinkle and the gurgle on the way
To disappear upon the watered bay.
The evening and the morning turn around
And pause to mind the memory once found
In the creation of the world of light
And air and firmament and heavenly height
Above the trailing vine and seed and flower
That introduces fish and beastly power.
The morning finds the evening still entranced
By altars smoking where the faithful danced.

51 They kept the feast of tabernacles,
As it’s commanded in law’s hackles,
And offered the right sacrifice
Every day there and to suffice.
52 And after that the offerings made
Always and sacrifice parade
On Sabbaths and the first day of
The months and all the feasts thereof.
53 And all who had made any vow
To Ælohim would come kowtow
In sacrifice to Ælohim,
From first day of the seventh month,
Though the temple of Ælohim
Was not yet built as had been once.

The daily sacrifice rises to meet
The double Sabbath offering for a treat,
And that waits for the first day in the round
Of months to find the overflow on ground
Until the yearly Sabbaths make a sound
Of joy and praise for dancing hands and feet.
Beloved, I search the skies to know the way
To count the days and months set in array
From solstice to the bright midsummer day
When darkness fails to meet me where I pray.
Beloved, I search the earth to find the path
That leads to love and hope instead of wrath,
And find the sacrificial footprints there
That disappear beyond the silver stair.

54 They gave money to masons and
Carpenters, and food and drink’s hand
55 And carts to the Sidonians
And the Tyrians, to bring spans
Of cedar logs from Lebanon
And transport them in rafts upon
The harbour of Joppa, by law
They had in writing from the claw
Of Cyrus king of Persians’ paw.
56 In second year after their coming
To temple of Ælohim humming
In Jerusalem, in the second
Month, Zerubbabel the son beckoned
Of Shealtiel and Jeshua
The son of Jozadak set claw
To start together with their brothers
And the Levite priests and all others
Who had come to Jerusalem
From the captivity’s condemn;
57 And they laid the foundation of
The temple of Ælohim’s love
On the first day of second month
In second year after they once
Arrived in Judea and in
Jerusalem once to begin.

It took more than a year to set the stone
Upon the footer of the temple throne,
As though eternity was time enough
To build a temple in the city’s rough.
I am impatient with my day and call,
And wonder if my life begins at all
As I embark upon the second half
Of century that is my life to quaff.
Beloved, the waiting on the foreign street,
The memory of roads before my fleet
White martyrdom gives nothing to repeat.
I watch in silence how the setting sun
Fades on the path that I have just begun
And find my steps have slowed down from my run.

58 And they appointed the Levites
Who were twenty or more by rights
In years of age to be in charge
Of the work of YHWH by and large.
And Jeshua got up, with him
His sons and brothers and the trim
Kadmiel his brother and the son
Of Jeshua Emadabun
And the sons of Joda the son
Of Iliadun, with their sons
And brothers, all the Levites’ guns,
As one man to cooperate
On house of Ælohim’s estate.
And so the builders came and built
YHWH’s temple made of stone and gilt.

The builders that build my house every day,
The house in which I praise You and I pray,
The temple of my inner chamber’s wealth
Where I entreat You carefully in stealth
Are not the Levites of Your chosen brood.
They are a lesser crowd ragged and rude.
They are the syllable untutored tongue
Recites of Psalm from silver rung to rung.
Beloved, the temple of the song I sing
Is all that’s needed to remember king
And son of king upon the royal seat
Until I find my place where You entreat.
The stony walls that chamber me around
Ring and echo beneath the sacred sound.

59 The priests stood arrayed in their clothes,
Musical instruments arose
And trumpets, and the Levites, sons
Of Asaph, with cymbals in tons,
60 In praising YHWH and blessing him,
According to the orders grim
Of David king of Israel;
61 And they sang hymns of Psalms to give
Thanks to YHWH that His mercies live
Forever on all Israel,
And His glory there rests a spell.
62 And all the folk blew on their trumpets
And shouted with a sound like strumpets,
To praise YHWH for the building of
The house of YHWH in divine love.

I too take instrument of string and strum
The melody of Psalm and while I hum
I find the trumpet at my ear has come
If only in the light imagining
That rises from my gold and silver string.
I too take harpy handle and I stroke
The strings until I hear above the smoke
Of sacrifice and incense the clear note
That raises me above the heavenly boat
To look down on the maple and the oak.
Beloved, as I grasp wooden harp with hold
Unhandy and turn voice of Psalm to gold
Of love, list to the prayer and give me room
Before the breaking of the lyre of doom.

63 Some of the Levite priests and heads
Of ancestral houses in spreads,
Old men who’d seen the former house,
Came to this building then to grouse
With loud weeping out of their beds,
64 And others with trumpets and joy,
65 So that the people could not hear
The trumpets for weeping on ear.
For the crowd blew the trumpets loud,
So the sound was heard to the cloud,
66 And when the foes of Judah’s tribe
And Benjamin’s heard the strong vibe,
They came to find out what the sound
Of trumpets meant upon the ground.

I have the choice, Beloved, before the flame
Of this world’s hoarse anatomy and game
To weep for the fact that the golden year
And golden place departed with its gear,
Or rejoice that the slender thread of truth
Arises once more in the day of youth.
I have the choice to sing or weep a while,
To stand and whimper or then walk a mile.
Sometimes my days are spent in weeping for
The loss of sweetcakes from my meagre store.
Sometimes days just as cloudy up above
Find me rejoicing in the pale of love.
The human heart is treacherous in each,
While You provide both pit and luscious peach.

67 And they learned that those who’d returned
From the captivity had earned
The temple for YHWH Ælohim
Of Israel and not a dream.
68 So they approached Zerubbabel
And Jeshua and the heads well
Of the ancestral houses and
Said to them, "Let us build in band.
69 “For we obey your Lord as you
And we’ve been sacrificing too
Since the time of Esarhaddon
King of the Assyrians drawn,
Who brought us here from land of dawn."
70 Zerubbabel and Jeshua
And the heads of ancestral paw
In Israel said unto them,
"You have nothing in stratagem
To do with us in building gleam
Of house for YHWH our Ælohim.
71 “For we alone will build it for
YHWH of Israel, as Cyrus swore,
The king of the Persians commanded
Us to build it when we had landed."
72 And yet the peoples of the land
Insisted with a heavy hand
On those in Judea to stand,
Cut off their supplies, and in band
Hindered their building; 73 and by plots
And rhetoric and rebel lots
Prevented finishing the room
As long as King Cyrus was groom.
And they were prevented from work
For two years until reign and perk
Of king Darius wiped their smirk.

Racism of old Zion’s folk may seem
Obscurantist and product of a dream.
But see the opposition it awoke,
Which proves them right in their refusal’s stroke.
If those who offered help had been sincere
And righteous in their offer of more gear,
They would have left the builders in their peace
After their offer met refusal’s grease.
Beloved, refuse my heart and home and hope
And leave me to hang myself on my rope,
But I shall come again before Your face
And whisper my love to Your fading trace.
I shall not leave importunate demand
But seek You now my Love in every land.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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