II ESDRAS CHAPTER 1 - 5

2 ESDRAS

2 Esdras is generally considered to be a gem of Jewish apocalyptic literature from the first century C.E. The Hebrew original as well as its Greek translation have been lost. This versification is based on translations of the restored Latin text, with very little reference to the sources and practically no scholarly contemplation of the many variants. Its value is completely that of the versification itself and the verse contemplations in commentary.

The book of 2 Esdras presents a completely distinct way of accommodating to the imperial situation, one in contrast to Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 Esdras. It reverts to the Ezekiel model of visionary flight from unsavoury reality.

2 ESDRAS 1

1 The second book of Ezra, prophet
Son of Seraiah not to scoff at,
The son of Azariah, son
Of Hilkiah, son of Shallum,
Son of Zadok, Ahitub’s son,
2 Son of Ahijah out to hum,
Son of Phinehas, Ali’s son,
Son of Amariah well done,
Son of Azariah, the son
Of Meraioth, son of Arna,
Son of Uzzi, son of the raw
Borith, son of Abishua,
Son of Phinehas, who was son
Of Eleazar, who when done
3 Was son of Aaron, of the tribe
Of Levi, who was captive bribe
In the land of the Medes when reigned
Artaxerxes, king uncomplained
Of the Persians. 4 Message from YHWH
Came to me saying 5 “Go say to
My people that their deeds are bad,
And to their offspring it is sad
They have committed wickedness
Against Me, so they may confess
To their grandchildren 6 “that the sins
Of their parents arose in bins,
For they’ve forgotten Me and made
Sacrifices to strange gods strayed.

Ezra is the one who invented much
When he invented silsila to touch.
The Sufi Jewfy goofy way to teach
Has since that time been subject that they preach.
Without the isnad of the long transmission
Of blessing and authority’s admission
The sinful soul goes down to hell’s commission
With failing glory and without a peach.
Beloved, I come to You alone and take
The bayat as a promise not to wake
The sleeping cuties on the slaughter ground
Who zombie-like go round and round and round.
Beloved, I come to You alone, forsake
The satans that the villages confound.

7 “Was it not I who took them out
Of Egypt’s land, and with a shout
Out of the house of servanthood?
But they have angered Me as could
Despising My advice for good.
8 “Pull out your head of hair and fling
Every evil upon their thing,
For they have not obeyed My law,
Rebellious folk in hand and claw.
9 “How long shall I put up with them,
Whom I’ve granted largess in gem?
10 “For them I’ve overthrown some kings,
I struck down Pharaoh with his wings
Of servants and his army’s stings.
11 “All peoples I’ve destroyed for them,
And scattered before two folks’ hem,
Both Tyre and Sidon, I have killed
All their foes on the land they tilled.

The divine rage is something that I bare
Only in infantile dream to beware.
Otherwise I present myself as good
Behaving in the world as goodness should.
If You, Beloved, advise pulling out hair
In protest for idolatry in air,
Just tell me what’s the benefit to share
Besides the grosser ridicule I could.
I can indeed make fuss that You are caught
In trinities of idols long since taught,
And raise a crew and hie against the bought,
But the result is not repentance’ wheel,
Rather more a glint and a threat of steel.
I do not know what is to help or would.

12 “But talk to them and say ‘It’s so
That YHWH speaks, 13 “Truly on the go
I brought you through the sea, and laid
Secure paths for you where was made
No road, I gave you Moses too
As guide and Aaron as priest due,
14 “I gave you light from stand of fire,
And performed miracles, admire,
Among you, but you have forgotten
Me,” says YHWH. 15 ‘And so is He plotting,
YHWH Almighty, “The quails were sign
To you, I gave you camps’ design
For your protection, but you scoffed.
16 “You’ve not praised My name, but have coughed
At the destruction of your foes,
And to this day complain in rows.
17 “Where are the benefits that I
Poured out on you? When you could die
For hunger and thirst in the land
Of desert, did you not remand
Your voice to me, 18 “saying ‘Why now
Have You led us into the brow
Of this desert to kill us? It
Would have been better to be fit
In service to Egyptians than
To die in this place to a man.’

I too, Beloved, have failed to die of hunger
In the abandoned land when I was younger,
And failed to thirst beyond the wake of fasting
As long as the hot daylight time was lasting.
Perhaps there have been moments in my nonage
When I hoped to die for a moment’s punnage,
But on the brow of the hill where I stand,
I do not wish return to Egypt’s land.
Beloved, I know the Nile in treachery,
I know the lovely folk in their beauty,
But for the symbol of earth’s slavery
I do not wish the journey on the sand
Return me to idol-worshipping band.
Instead I take hold of Your leading hand.

19 “I took pity upon your sighs
And gave you manna for replies,
You ate the food of angels wise.
20 “When you thirsted, did I not split
The rock so that water flowed fit
Abundantly? For shade from heat
I covered you with tree leaves neat.
21 “I meted out the fruited lands
To you, I frightened out the bands
Of Canaanites, the Perizzites,
The Philistines before your heights.
What more can I do for you now?”
Says YHWH. 22 ‘So says YHWH anyhow,
The Almighty, “When you were there
In the desert by bitter share
Of water, thirsting to blaspheme
My name, 23 “I did not even dream
To send fire on you for the weight
Of your blasphemies to berate,
But cast a tree into the flood
And made the stream sweet of its mud.
24 “What shall I do for you, Jacob?
You would not obey Me as stub,
O Judah. I’ll turn to the rub
Of other peoples and give them
My name, that they may keep the hem
Of My statutes and have a claim.

You have not sent me down the manna sweet
Or given miracled water in treat
(Although I have been favoured once to taste
The nectar of zamzam and without waste
To run upon the two hills in my haste),
Nor have you looked upon brazen and chased
Them from their houses so that I might find
A safety and a comfort in my bind.
And yet, Beloved, I turn back to Your law
And contemplate it with a well-turned claw
And wonder at perfection at the draw.
And yet, Beloved, I turn and turn again
Away from teaching guidance of all men
And find You only hiding in my den.

25 “Because you have forsaken Me,
I shall forsake you and your tree.
When you petition My mercy,
I shall not show you such mercy.
26 “When you call on Me, I will not
Listen to you, for you in plot
Have defiled your hand with shed blood,
And your feet are swift to the crud
Of murder. 27 “It’s not Me alone,
You’ve given yourselves up to a stone,”
Says YHWH. 28 ‘So says YHWH the Almighty,
“Have I not begged of you the flighty
As father speaks well to his sons,
Or mother to her daughters fair,
Or a nurse to her children’s runs,
29 “That you should be My people there,
And I should be your Ælohim,
And you should be My sons in scheme,
And I your father it would seem?

I see the brave religion of the boast
Whose hand creates the blood upon the host
And then turns to the stone in adoration
To find a peace in the grown heart’s elation.
I see the fathers hear confession made
In cubicles of homely and betrayed,
And know the Father that is thus waylaid
Is missing from the crosses in their station.
Beloved, I murder not Your Christ once sent
Nor do I accuse the Jews when they meant
To keep their nation from the rust of Rome.
I keep my simple faith alone at home.
If You are Father to the gathered here,
I lend You heart and tuneful tongue and ear.

30 “I summoned you together as
A hen gathers the brood she has
Under her wings. But now, what shall
I do for you? I’ll throw you, pal,
Out from before My sight for sal.
31 “When you offer up incense to
Me, I will turn My face from you,
For I’ve rejected your feast days,
The first day of the months to raise,
And circumcisions of the flesh.
32 “I sent you my servants the prophets,
But you have taken off the sofits
And killed them, torn their bodies shredded,
Their blood I’ll demand where they’re bedded,”
Says YHWH. 33 ‘So says YHWH the Almighty,
“Your house is desolate, alrighty,
I’ll throw you out like wind the straw,
34 “And your sons will not have in craw
Offspring, because along with you
They’ve abandoned commandment true
And done the evil in My view.
35 “I’ll give your houses to a folk
To come, who without hearing stroke
Of Me believe and take My yoke.
Those to whom I have shown no signs
Will do as I give them designs.

If Your Christ Jesus once relayed the tune
Of this text with its chickens there to croon,
And quoted thus apocrypha when he
Stood up before the folk in prophecy,
Then any church that sets aside the text
That Jesus himself spoke to the perplexed
Is flying in the face of hen and brood,
Which is a thing unfaithful well as rude.
Beloved, I read apocryphal words too
And doubt them in my passion for the true
As much as I doubt everything I read
Except the Decalogue, which is my speed.
Give me the judgement now that is my due
For having such a slender hope and creed.

36 “They’ve seen no prophets, still recall
The way they lived before in stall.
37 “I call in witness the folk’s thanks
That will come, whose offspring in ranks
Will rejoice with gladness, though they
Do not see Me with eyes that stay,
But with the spirit they’ll believe
The message they from Me receive.
38 “And now, Father, look out with pride
And see the nations as they ride
From the east, 39 “To those ones I’ll give
As leaders there where they may live
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
Hosea, Amos and the cub
Micah and Joel, Obadiah,
And Jonah, Nahum, and the fire
Of Habakkuk, and Zephaniah,
Haggai and also Zechariah,
And Malachi also one who
Is called the messenger of YHWH.”

Abram, Isaac and Jacob in the past
Are followed by a faithful twelve to last,
The minor prophets as the saying goes
Are only mentioned here because he chose
Them to be great above both friends and foes.
I look around the holy books that cast
A flame of light and truth above the mast
And weigh anchor and beat for open throes
Of stormy sea to wallow on the floes
Speckled with foam like petals of the rose.
Beloved, I see the guidance of those twelve
In all the hopeful hearing where I delve
Among the manuscripts of ancient lore.
I find the silver stair and golden floor.

2 ESDRAS 2

1 So says YHWH, “I brought this folk out
Of bondage, and I gave in shout
To them commandments through my slaves
The prophets, but they from their graves
Would not obey them, and they made
My advice empty where it stayed.
2 “The mother who gave them birth spoke
To them, ‘Go, my children, for broke,
Since I’m a widow and forsaken.
3 “I reared you up with gladness shaken,
But mournfully, in sorrow waken
I to your loss, because you’ve sinned
Before YHWH Ælohim and grinned
In doing evil in My sight.
4 “Now what can I do for your right?
For I’m a widow and forsaken.
Go, my children, and ask unshaken
For mercy from YHWH unmistaken.’
5 “I call upon you, Father, as
A witness more than any has
To the mother of the offspring,
Because they would not keep the ring
Of My treaty, 6 “so you may bring
Bewilderment on them and their
Mother to ruin and despair,
So they may have no children there.
7 “Let them be scattered among all
The nations, let their names in call
Be blotted from the earth, because
They have despised My pact in laws.

The blotting out of names upon the earth
And memory of every thing of worth
Is not the choice of You, Beloved, but that
The weary have forgotten where they sat.
The path of righteousness is never vain,
Although forgotten in the worldly reign,
The path of wickedness though often crowned
With laurels, is paid for in pence and pound.
Beloved, the name is safe and still allowed
That is caught in Your heart instead of crowd.
The silsila of righteousness alone
Has value before You upon the throne.
Let my days be taught by obedience
To You alone, Beloved, and in Your tents.

8 “And woe to you, Assyria,
Who hide the wicked in your paw!
Perverted nation, mind what I
Did to Sodom and Gomorrah,
9 Whose country glares in scattered pitch
And piles of ashes in the ditch.
So will I do when folks decry
My message, says YHWH Almighty.”
10 So said YHWH to Ezra in fee,
“Tell My folk that I will give them
The kingdom of Jerusalem,
Which I meant to give Israel.
11 Besides, I’ll take back to Myself
Their glory, and will put on shelf
Of others the eternal doors,
That I had made for Israel’s stores.
12 The tree of life shall give them rife
Perfume, and they shall not spend life
In weary toil upon their shores,
Neither toil nor become weary.
13 Ask and you will receive, and pray
That your days may be few and stay
But briefly. The kingdom is yet
Prepared for you, watch what you get!
14 Call, O call heaven and earth to see,
For I abandoned wicked spree
And created the good, because
I live, says YHWH providing laws.

Again I find the text that Jesus knew
When he said ask and you will get a few,
And find it in apocrypha, which means
The fundamentalists who beat my beans
Are wrong, wrong, wrong to spread the idle tale
That their own book and Bible is a whale
In truth beyond the hidden books that find
The truth is just as much theirs as the blind.
Beloved, I sniff and smell the savour stored
In every sacred book where You are Lord,
And live to love and love to live the word
That in their dusty covers has me stirred.
Beloved, I see with sure and sheer delight
The rising tempests of the true and right.

15 “Mother, embrace your sons, bring them
Up with joy, as the dove for gem,
And set their feet, because I chose
You, says YHWH. 16 And also uprose
The dead by My power from their graves,
And I have brought them out of slaves
Because I found My name’s rondeaux.
17 Don’t be afraid, mother of spawn,
For I have chosen you and drawn,
Says YHWH. 18 I will send you your help,
My servants Isaiah to yelp
And Jeremiah just a whelp.
By their advice I have made you
Holy and ready and in view
Twelve trees heavy with many kinds
Of fruit as luscious vine unwinds,
19 And the same number of springs flowing
With milk and honey, and the glowing
Of seven mighty mountains on
Which roses and lilies are drawn,
By these I’ll fill with joy your spawn.
20 Protect the widow’s rights and seek
Justice for the orphan and meek,
Give to the poor, defend those who
Have no father to help and do,
Give clothing to the shivering lad
Who has no cover and is sad,
21 Care for the injured and the weak,
Don’t make fun of the lame and peek,
Protect the injured, let the blind
Man have a sight of heaven’s kind.

The ten commandments verily revealed
On Sinai are the source of this pen’s yield.
They grow out of the trees of better fruit
And from the twelve streams of honey to boot.
They are enclosed in roses, lilies too
And rise on waves of milk to meet the dew.
Commandments are a joy to comprehend,
A glory to observe though blind in end,
The fruit and milk and honey of the right
That make a place of comfort in the night.
Beloved, I seek Your law and love to grace
The meadows and the bosquets of my place,
Where I lift up a prayer of gratitude
For everything in Your law that I’ve viewed.

22 Keep safe the old and young within
Your walls, 23 when you find in the bin
Any who are dead, bury them
In a grave and mark on its hem,
And I will give you the first place
Upon My resurrection’s trace.
24 Stand and be still, my folk, for you
Shall have your Sabbath rest when due.
25 Good nurse, nourish your children, and
Make strong their very feet to stand.
26 No servant I have given you
Will perish, but the residue
I shall bring to account’s accrue.

Even the rest You promise to the weak,
Protection from the strong and those who seek
To make the holy day a day to work
Or fill the life of all with wicked shirk,
Even the rest You give to humankind
And animals is not left to the blind,
But mentioned as a favour in the speech
That You give to Esdras as sweet as peach.
Beloved I take the law as Esdras knows
And feed on it as far as my faith goes
Until I find the blessings of repose
As well as doing right above the glass
Of government that is set up to pass.
I whisper the right words above the mass.

27 Don’t be anxious, for when the day
Of trouble and anguish in sway
Comes, others shall weep as they pray,
But you’ll rejoice to see the pay.
28 The nations shall envy you but
They’ll not be able to do smut
Against you, says YHWH on His way.
29 My hands will cover you, that your
Children may not come to the door
Of Gehenna. 30 Rejoice, mother,
With your children, for I confer
Salvation on you, does YHWH say.
31 Remember your children that sleep,
Because I’ll bring them from the deep
Places of the earth, and will show
Them mercy, for I’m in mercy,
Says YHWH the Lord the Almighty.
32 Embrace your children till I come,
And speak of mercy in their sum,
Because my springs run over, and
My grace will not fail as I stand.”

A time of trouble such as never known
Flies out upon the earth without a groan
To decimate the wicked ones and lend
Its wings to evil and bring it an end.
A time of trouble on the fatal rise
Of earth beneath the lowering of the skies
Comes to the fore and brings peace to her knees
And ushers in faith of eternities.
Beloved, I fear no trouble while You care
For Your own in the vacant light and glare
Of heathen ways and means around the town.
I only bow to You and to Your crown.
Embrace me now, Your child, one secretly
Set by the fires of dull iniquity.

33 I, Ezra, was ordered by YHWH
On Mount Horeb to go in view
Of Israel. When I came near
They threw me out, refused to hear
YHWH’s commandment spoken to sear.
34 So I say to you, nations that
Hear and understand good and fat,
“Wait for your shepherd, he will give
You Sabbath rest always to live,
Because the one who will come at
The age’s end is close at hand.
35 “Be ready for the kingdom’s band
Of reward, for eternal light
Will shine on you always in sight.
36 “Flee from the darkness of this time,
Receive the joy of glory’s climb,
I in the sight of all make call
On my Saviour to witness hall.
37 “Receive what YHWH has given you
And be joyful, give Him thanks due
Who’s called you to celestial realms.
38 “Get up and stand and see the feast
Of YHWH in number of increased
That have been sealed and set at helms.
39 “Those who’ve left darkness of this age
Have received gloried clothes in stage
From YHWH. 40 “So take again account
In your full number, Zion’s mount,
And close the list of your folk who
Are clothed in white righteousness’ view,
Who have fulfilled the law of YHWH.
41 “The number of your children, whom
You wished for is full to the doom,
So beg YHWH’s hand upon your folk,
Who have been called from start to stroke,
That they may be made holy yoke.”

The twelve times twelve thousand of sealed are those
Who not only put on bright white new clothes,
But have fulfilled Your law, Beloved, and kept
It even when they were bowed down and wept.
I count the names as Esdras in the past
And find the ranks depleted from the blast
And wonder where they are now who are known
To keep Your law, Beloved, before Your throne.
The tales of preacher and of priest go out
From pulpit and from street corner in shout
That You cannot be obeyed by a lout.
And yet the yokes they place in law and hand
Are heavier by far for all to stand
And crush the poor upon the desert sand.

42 I, Ezra, saw on Zion’s mount
A great crowd, which I could not count,
And all were praising YHWH with songs.
43 Among them was a youth in thongs,
Taller than any others there,
And on each head he placed a fair
Crown, but he was higher than they.
And I could hardly look away.
44 I asked an angel, “Who are these,
Sir?” 45 He answered and said to please
Me, “These are they who have put off
Mortal clothing and not to scoff
Have put on the immortal dress,
And they would the great name confess
Of Ælohim, so now they’ve got
Crowns and palms for heritage lot.”
46 Then I said to the angel, “Who
Is that young man who places due
Crowns on them and puts palms in hand?”
47 He answered and told me to stand,
“He is the Son of Ælohim
[Messiah crowned as it would seem],
Whom they confessed in the world’s dream.”
So I began to praise those who
Had stood firm and courageous too
Before the holy name of YHWH.
48 So the angel said to me, “Go,
Tell my folk how great and not slow
Are wonders of YHWH Ælohim
That you have seen and how they teem.”

The Son of God is not genetic trace
From the divine in spectre or in race,
But is the promised one, Messiah’s grace
Who always sees the glory of Your face.
And he stands young and fair before the throng
That raises up the praises due in song
To You, Beloved, from David’s harp and tent
To show the universe what You had meant.
I find the multitude before the sea,
I find them spread as far as Zion’s tree,
And all are dressed in righteousness to be
A witness to Your law of liberty.
I find the multitude, but teeming far
Beyond their number is Your wondered star.

2 ESDRAS 3

1 In thirtieth year after fate
Destroying our city and great,
I Salathiel, who’m also
Called Ezra, was upon the show
Of Babylon. I was in fit
As I lay on my bed in grit,
And my thoughts welled up in my heart,
2 Because I saw Zion in cart
Of desolation and the wealth
Of those in Babylon for stealth.
3 My mind was greatly troubled and
I began to make anxious stand
To the Most High, and said, 4 “O YHWH
Sovereign, did You not speak in view
At the beginning when You made
The earth, and without any aid,
Gave command to the dust and it
5 “Gave You Adam [red earth], a body fit,
Though lifeless? Yet he was the work
Of Your hands, and You breathed a quirk
Of life’s breath into him, and he
Was brought to life before Your tree.
6 “And You led him into the gan
Which Your right hand had made for man
Planted before the earth appeared.
7 “You lay one obligation geared
Upon him, but he transgressed it,
And so straightway You came to sit
Appointing death for him and for
His descendants. From him there sprang
Nations and tribes, peoples in fang
And families uncounted hang.

Once there was choice between both life and death,
But now as I live on from breath to breath,
That choice is made, the plot original
Is not of sin for wicked arsenal,
But of death only. Now I’m faced with choice
Between the right and wrong to give one voice.
Once there was choice between the right and wrong
And some men chose the right and sang the song
And others chose the left and went into
The night and shadows without residue
Of hope upon the fainting violet.
But some chose right and sang the fast motet
And found the place of peace above the flight
Of harp and swallow in the morning light.

8 “And every nation did its own
Will and did wicked things alone
Before you and scorned you, and You
Did not stop them from what they do.
9 “But again, in its time You brought
The flood upon earth’s dwellers’ plot
To destroy all of them as ought.
10 “And the same fate fell on them too:
As death came on Adam [red earth] and crew,
So the flood fell on them as due.
11 “But You left one of them to scold,
Noah with his righteous household,
And those descended from his fold.
12 “When those who lived on earth began
To multiply, they brought forth man
And woman children and the folks
And many nations in their yokes,
And once again started to be
More ungodly than fathers’ spree.
13 “And as they did iniquity
Before You, You chose for yourself
One of their number on the shelf,
Whose name was Abraham, 14 “and You
Loved him, and to him only You
Revealed the end of times, to sight
Alone and secretly by night.
15 “You made an everlasting pact
With him, and promise him to act
With faithfulness to his offspring,
And gave him Isaac, and in fling
To Isaac Jacob and Esau.

The reason You made Abram know the times
Was not for good works on the hill he climbs
But simply that You love him about all.
Love knows no reasons when set to the wall.
I see the arbitrary as it seems
In everything that happens out of dreams,
And yet believe that justice marks Your way
At least when scrutinized by light of day.
The everlasting covenant You made
With Abram, Isaac and Jacob waylaid
Is still upon my heart: I wish to do
According to commandments that are true,
Not only by the natural desires
That fuel the human heart with vacant fires.

16 “And You set Jacob at the draw
Apart for Yourself, but Esau
You did reject, Jacob became
A great multitude and in fame.
17 “And when You led his descendants
Out of Egypt, You made them prance
To Mount Sinai. 18 “You came to bend
Down the sky and shake earth to send
Tremors around the world, and make
The deep to tremble, and to stake
A trouble to the times in wake.
19 “Your glory passed through the four gates
Of fire and earthquake, wind and states
Of ice, to give the law to lead
The descendants of Jacob’s breed,
And Your commandment to the folk
Of Israel under Your yoke.

The gates of fire and earth and wind inspire
Beyond the portals of greenness in ire
The ice the angels keep above the wake
Of Enoch for the Watchers’ and their sake.
The desert fountain, spring, an eye not blind
Is open on the sands at last to find
The heights bear down and freeze all in its path
Into the ice that makes eternal wrath.
Beloved, I whirl upon the four gates here
And find that Ezra brushes off the tear
And turns the strident melody of fear
To glories on the dergah floor I pace.
The portals rimed with frost catch shining face
As sparks arise from earth to air in grace.

20 “But You did not remove from them
Their evil heart, so that the gem
Of Your law might bear fruit in them.
21 “For the first Adam [red earth], evil hearted,
Transgressed overcome and departed,
As also all his children started.
22 “The sickness was inherited,
The law in the folk’s heart was bred
Along with wickedness in root,
But what was good left on the scoot,
And only wickedness remained.

Poor Calvin followed Augustine to find
His sinful heart was always in a bind.
Perhaps he read good Ezra in the mood
Of laying blame on ancestry and brood
Instead of on the human choice to do
According to Your law set up and true.
The wicked heart may well be on the pile,
And yet it is more wicked by the mile
Because Your law is there beneath the smile.
The wicked heart has choice before the moon,
It follows star and sun in every room.
Let my heart follow in a better way,
One that submits to Your law on the day
You choose to speak aloud and in Your sway.

23 “So times passed and the years were gained,
And You raised up a servant named
David. 24 “You ordered him unblamed
To build a city for Your name,
And there to offer You in claim
Sacrifice from Your own in flame.
25 “So it went on for many years,
But the town’s dwellers changed their gears
Transgressing 26 “in all things to do
As Adam [red earth] and his offspring’s crew,
For they also had evil heart.
27 “So You delivered town and cart
Into the power of Your foes’ part.
28 “Then I said also in my heart,
Are the acts of those who live in
Babylon better for their sin?
Is that why she’s become the ruler
Over Zion as a pre-schooler?
29 ”For when I came here I in wonder
Saw wicked deeds and without number,
And my soul has seen sinners many
During these thirty years in penny.

The word of Adam was not spoken for
The sin original lying at door
As to his son You once proclaimed the wrong.
Oh no, it is a different sabred song.
The choice is always there, the spring’s not dry:
All can do well even if none still try.
The word and refrain are given to show
That wickedness is just the common row
Of every nation, so that Israel
When punished for the evil of her spell
Is punished without justice unless fell
The judgement on each people who are here
Succeeding in a wicked train and gear.
I turn to You, Beloved, from hope and fear.

And my heart sank with grief, 30 “for I
Have seen how You put up with sty
Of sin in others and spared those
Who act in wickedness they chose,
And yet destroyed Your folk in throes,
And saved Your enemies in rows,
31 “And have not shown to any one
How to understand what You’ve done.
Are Babylon’s deeds better than
Those of Zion set out to scan?
32 “Or has another nation known
You besides Israel on throne?
Or what nations have so believed
Your covenants and unreprieved
As these tribes of Jacob relieved?
33 “Yet their reward has not appeared
Their labour borne no fruit as feared.
For I have travelled here and there
Among the nations and seen fair
Abundance of their wealth in share,
Though they remember not Your law.
34 “So compare our wickedness’ claw
With that of the world now at large,
And see which is the worse in barge.
35 “When have the dwellers of the earth
Not sinned before You in their berth?
Or what nation has kept Your law
So well as Israel’s ma and pa?
36 “You may find here and there a man
Who’s kept Your law in speck and span,
But nations You shall never find
Among earth’s rulers and unkind.”

The balance of the fruitier is the cry
Of Ezra or at least as people vie.
He begs that You will weigh the bag of sin
Against the margin caught and held in bin
As though the wicked act could be caught up
And carried in a pitcher and a cup.
Will Hajji Bektash please stand up and say
That balancing of weights is not the way
That You, Beloved, see night and evil day?
Truth is, though, Ezra’s right, there is no land
Where righteousness is kept on every hand.
A single dervish here, Kalender there
Is all there be among lovely and fair,
The perfect man stands out, others forbear.

2 ESDRAS 4

1 The angel that was sent to me,
Whose name was Uriel, told me
2 “You fail completely now to see
The state of this word, do you think
That you can comprehend the brink
Of the Most High?” 3 And I replied,
“Yes, sir.” He answered me as guide,
“I’ve been sent to show you three ways,
And set three tasks to you in daze.
4 If you can explain one to me,
I’ll open to you completely
The very thing you wish to see,
And show you why your heart’s in maze.”
5 I said “Keep talking, sir.” And he
Said to me, “Go and weigh for me
The weight of fire, or measure me
A tale of wind, or call back free
The day that’s past eternally.”
6 I answered and said “Who of those
Born can answer the things you chose
To ask me what I should disclose?”

The three tasks take the first two gates in sight,
And open to the heart both fire and might
Of wind, the gates of dervish path and law
Before the angel’s words spoken in awe.
Two gates more are in secret faintly wrapped
Beneath the aspen leaves that clapped and clapped.
Awareness of Your view and sacred truth
Are not the playing grounds of fallow youth,
But are as fluent in escaping way
As is the bound and brief of yesterday.
Beloved, I know the treasured measure taught
Of fire and wind by chemist and their lot,
And yet the secret stays despite man’s will
And looks down quickly from the brow of hill.”

7 And he said to me, “If I’d asked
You, ‘How many dwellings have basked
In the heart of the sea, or how
Any streams are at the deep’s prow,
Or how many above the skies,
Or who the exits of hell vies,
Or where’s entrance to paradise?’
8 “Perhaps you would have said to me,
‘I never went down in the sea,
Nor ever as yet into hell,
Nor did I rise in heaven to tell.’
9 “But now I’ve asked you just about
The fire and wind and day in route,
Things through which you have passed, without
Which you cannot exist, and you
Have given me no answer in view!”
10 And then he said to me, “If you
Cannot understand things which you
Have grown up with, 11 how can your mind
The deep ways of the Most High find?
How can one who’s already worn
Out by the corrupt world in scorn
Understand incorruption’s bourn?”
When I heard this, I fell prostrate
12 And said to him, “It would be fate
Better for us not to be here
Than to come here and live in fear
Ungodly, and to suffer and
Not understand why out of hand.”
13 He answered me and said, “I went
Into a forest of trees sent
Upon the plain, and they made plan
14 And said, ‘Come, let us go and scan
In war against the sea, that it
May recoil before us a bit,
And give us more space where to sit.’

I hear the whisper of the graven fir
Upon the quartzite hill and on the spur
Of pine-mad reaches where the aspen thicket
Gives way to larger trees past margin picket.
I hear the sough of birch both stiffly twigged
And graceful bend of the more softly sprigged
And train my ear to catch in faint aplomb
The plans of forest made in storm and calm.
If I could just hear what the wise trees say
I might be able on the single day
To capture fire and wind and at the bay
Rejoice in knowing where the dreams and brush
Of yesteryears have tumbled to in hush,
And where the moss and lichens spring as lush.

15 And in the same way the sea waves
Planned to make of forest its slaves
And said, ‘Come, let us go up and
Conquer the forest on the land
So we may have more room to stand.’
16 But the forest plan was in vain,
For fire came and consumed the plain,
17 And also the plan of the waves
Of the sea, for the sand that paves
The shore stood firm and stopped the knaves.
18 If now you were a judge between
Them, for whom would you intervene,
And which would you condemn on scene?”
19 I answered saying, “Each has made
A foolish plan, for the land’s laid
To forest, and the sea’s assigned
To bear its waves to the shore lined.”
20 He answered me and said, “You’ve judged
Correctly, so why have you budged
From reason in your own case here?
21 “For as the land’s assigned to cheer
The forest and the sea to waves,
So also those who find their graves
Upon the earth can understand
Only what is upon the land,
And he who is above the skies
Can understand the heavens’ rise.”

To be created is to be in fact
Unknowledgeable of the noble act
That gives the meaning to the show and bourn.
To be created is to be foresworn.
And yet created though I be, I share
Angelics and divinity to bear
A wonder for the morning and the air,
The fire of sunrise on the crystal stair.
Beloved, I see the plans of deer and mouse
In wisdom overhauled, the ways of grouse
Untempered by the autumn air and cold:
Beloved, I see all nature step out bold,
But in that stepping failing to see all
That You have planned though shown on field and wall.

22 Then I replied and said, “I beg
You, sir, why am I given leg
In power of understanding then?
23 “For I did not wish to inquire
About the ways above all men,
But about those things we aspire
To know each day, why Israel
Has been delivered to the spell
Of Gentiles in reproach, and why
The people that You loved descry
Captivity to godless tribes,
And the law of our fathers’ bribes
Is made of no effect and missed,
Written treaties no more exist,
24 “And why we pass from the world’s sight
Like locusts, and our life’s a night
In mist, and we’re not counted free
To obtain from our Lord mercy.
25 “But what will He do for his name,
By which we are called and in fame?
It is about these things I ask.”
26 He answered me and said, “If you
Live on, you will see what is true,
And if you live long, you will oft
Be amazed, for the age aloft
Comes quickly to its end as due.
27 “For it will not be able to
Bring the things promised to the few
Righteous in their appointed times,
Because this age is full of crimes
Of sadness and infirmities.
28 “For the evil about which you
Ask me has been sown, but the due
Harvest of it has not yet come.
29 So if what’s sown is not in sum
Yet reaped, and if the place where bad
Has been sown does not pass the pad,
The field where the good has been sown
Will not appear since it’s not grown.
30 For seed of evil was sown in
Adam [red earth]’s heart from the start of sin,
And how much ungodliness it
Has produced until now to sit,
And will produce until the time
Of threshing comes at the last chime!

Philosophy of humankind relates
Only to the questions of human states.
I know no halls of brightness above dawn,
I know no paths eternal coming on.
I do not ask beyond the pain I share
With sentient beings crowding everywhere
To hear my sermons on the common woe.
Both beast and man join in the flowered show.
And yet the pain of hearth and settled ground
Has source in seeds that are in mythic bound
And lost in time and space of human eye,
At least the eye that wanders on this sky.
Beloved, the evil seed once planted bears
Repeatedly the fruit of idle cares.

31 Consider now for yourself how
Much fruit of ungodliness’ row
A single grain of evil seed
Has produced in the world of weed.
32 When heads of grain without count still
Are sown, how great then will they fill
A threshing floor to fit the bill!”
33 Then I replied and said, “How long
And when will these things come along?
Why are our years so few and bad?”
34 He answered me and said as sad,
“You do not hasten faster than
The Most High, for your haste in plan
Is for yourself, but the Most High
Hastens on behalf of the cry
Of many. 35 Did not righteous souls
In their graves too ask of the goals
Of these things saying, ‘How long must
We to remain here clothed in the dust?
When comes the harvest of reward?’

A single act of negligence, of love,
Of singleness instead of sight above,
And seeds are planted without hand or glove
To sprout each time the storms shake growing trees.
Desire to know both wickedness and ease
As well as the good things that come to please
Without relying on Creator’s plan
Is the seed that is downfall in the man.
Yet every moment is the last choice made
And every act upon the stage is played
That brings the cycle of creation’s grade.
Beloved, I breathe my favourite in the wind
And let go of the lusted for and sinned
And grasp eternal leaning on bright-skinned.

36 “And Jeremiel with the sword
Of archangel answered and said,
‘When the number of those like bred
As you yourselves is filled instead,
For he has judged the present age,
37 And measured the times in a gauge,
And counted the years by their number,
And He’ll not move or wake from slumber
Until that measure’s filled the page.’”
38 Then I answered and said, “O YHWH
Sovereign, but all of us here too
Are full of ungodliness due.
39 “And it is perhaps on account
Of us that the time of amount
In threshing is delayed for right,
Because of the sins in His sight
Of those who live on earth.” 40 And he
Answered me saying “Go freely
And ask a pregnant dame if, when
Her nine months are fulfilled again,
Her womb can then retain the child
Within her longer as though wild.”
41 And I said, “No, sir, it cannot.”
And he said to me, “In the rot
Of Hades the chambers of souls
Are like the womb and have their tolls.
42 “For just as a woman makes haste
To escape the pangs of birth and taste,
So also do these places hasten
To give back those things given to chasten
Committed to them from the start.
43 Then the things that you wish in part
To see will be shown to your heart.”

The resurrection’s not a doubtful thing.
No will of man or god in questioning
May change the time awaited and its bill.
The resurrection marches on to fill.
The chambers of the deep where lie in sleep
The shadows of departed and to keep
Are not themselves asleep, but groan to cast
Their burdens upon earth to live at last.
Beloved, the Christian calling at the rail
Of creed that tells the faith of shining mail
That hope of body after the last blast
Is only murmured doubt beside trail
Of glory that abides beneath the mast,
Of marvels that await and cannot fail.

44 I answered and said, “If I’ve found
Grace in your sight, and if it’s sound,
And if I’m worthy, 45 “show me too,
Whether more time’s to come in view
Than has passed, or whether for us
The greater’s gone by omnibus.
46 “For I know what has gone by, but
I do not know what time is shut.”
47 And he said to me, “Stand here at
My right side, and I’ll show out flat
The meaning of a sign and wonder.”
48 And so I stood and looked, by thunder,
A flaming furnace passed by me,
And after the flame I could see
Indeed the smoke remained to be.
49 And after this a rain cloud passed
Before me and poured down aghast
A heavy and hard rain, and when
The rainstorm had passed by, again
Drops remained in the cloud to last.
50 And he said to me, “Think it through,
For as the rain is more than dew
In drops, and the fire’s greater than
The smoke, so the amount in span
That passed was far greater, but drops
And smoke remained there in their stops.”
51 Then I prayed and said, “Do you think
That I shall live till those days’ brink?
Or who’ll be alive in those days?”
52 He answered me and said for praise,
“Concerning the signs of which you
Ask me, I can tell you a few,
But I was not sent to tell you
Concerning your life, for I do
Not know your numbered days in view.

The proof is greater than the question posed,
And goes beyond parameters disclosed.
The human hope is couched in small bewares,
And thrust among the lilies and the pears.
But when reality breaks on the gloom
On human blindness tottering in the room
Of daily sweeping, then the proof falls flat,
Ignored, unneeded before great fiat.
Beloved, I see the breath of wren abide
The touch of frost and still by crickle side
Lift up the sere and cobbled eye to know
That all is done despite the pomp and show.
Beloved, I see the proofing in the flash
Of one brief moment and the single dash.

2 ESDRAS 5

1 “Now as for the signs: indeed, days
Are coming when those who live maze
Of earth shall be seized with great fear,
And the way of truth disappear,
The land shall be void of faith dear.
2 “Unrighteousness shall be increased
Beyond what you yourself as priest
See, and beyond what you have known.
3 “And the land which you now see grown
Shall be desert, untrodden, shown
A desolation to the bone.
4 “But if the Most High grants you life,
You’ll see it thrown into the strife
After the third age then the sun
Shall shine forth at night and the moon
Shall brighten up the day when done.
5 “And blood shall drip from wood, the stone
Lift up its voice, the people lone
Shall be in trouble and the stars
Shall fall down from the sky in bars.

The signs in heavens have long since appeared,
The dark day when the people looked and feared,
The moon to blood as Jesus testified
In Matthew 24, the sun to hide.
The stars fell from the sky in plentitude
Till night was brightened like the day once viewed.
The signs and wonders are all there to see
And yet there is so little faith to be.
Beloved, I too doubt signs and wonder why
The earth speaks to some souls as in defy
And others to a soothing into sleep.
The earth itself divides the goats and sheep,
And heaven reflects the placid waters deep.
I turn between the arguments and fly.

6 “And one shall reign whom those who dwell
On earth do not expect to tell,
And birds shall flee away a spell,
7 “The sea of Sodom cast up fish,
And one whom many do not wish
Shall raise his voice by night, and all
Shall hear his voice and know his call.
8 There shall be chaos too in places
Far and near and fire break its traces,
And wild beasts roam beyond their spaces,
And menstruous women give birth to
Monsters. 9 And salt waters in view
Shall be found in the sweet, and all
Friends shall oppose each other’s call,
And reason herself shall be hidden,
And wisdom shall withdraw as bidden
Into its chamber, 10 and be sought
By some but not be found or taught,
And wickedness and unrestraint
Shall increase on earth to its taint.
11 And one country shall ask its neighbour,
‘Has righteousness of any labour,
Or any one who does right, passed
Through you?’ And it will speak aghast,
‘No.’ 12 And at that time men shall hope
But not obtain, and they shall grope
But their ways shall not prosper fast.
13 These are the signs which I’m permitted
To tell you, and if you pray fitted
Again, and weep as you do now,
And fast for seven days’ allow,
You’ll hear yet greater things than these.”
14 Then I awoke, as though from freeze
My body shuddered greatly, and
My soul seized and in faintness spanned.

Indeed reason herself has gone away
And left the world to lust and fools in sway,
And wisdom is found only in the room
That is a hidden chamber from such doom.
Friends that should be are filled with violence,
Opposing those who still in innocence
Aloud cry for the wrenching of Your law
By those who claim to serve it and in awe.
Beloved, I turn from every man in pay,
I turn from every church and mosque and stay
Away from synagogue of Satan’s own
As the Apocalypse has long since shown,
And turn from even You Yourself to find
You as the goal of my flight from the blind.

15 But the angel who’d come to talk
With me held me and at the block
Gave me strength and set on my feet.
16 Then on the second night there came
To me a chief of the folk’s fame,
Phaltiel and said “Where’ve you been?
And why’s your face as sad as sin?
17 “Or don’t you know that Israel’s been
Delivered up to you to win
In the land of captivity?
18 “So get up, eat some bread and be
For us and don’t forsake the wee,
As does the shepherd who forsakes
His flock in sight of the wolves’ rakes.”
19 Then I said to him, “Part from me
And don’t come near me in the fee
Of seven days, and then you may
Come back to me and hear me say.”
He heard me and left me to stay.
20 I fasted then for seven days,
Mourning and weeping to amaze,
As Uriel the angel had
Commanded me, so I was sad.
21 And after seven days the thoughts
Of my heart were troubled in plots.

I wonder if the fast began upon
A Sabbath day when it began to dawn
In which case revelation would be told
Upon the Friday eve lit up with gold
In great awaiting of the judgement day.
Perhaps the fasting went another way,
Beginning on the first day of the week
And ending with the Sabbath and the seek
Of workdays on the Sunday. Revelation
Would then come on that day of pagan ration.
Beloved, whatever day I fast or feast,
I look to You alone for the increased,
And find the blessing of the empty plate
Is just as full as feasting and as great.

22 Then I regained my rightful mind
And spoke once more as I aligned
In the presence of the Most High.
23 And I said, “O Almighty Lord,
From every forest that I spy
On earth and from all its trees’ sward
You have chosen one vine, 24 “and from
All the lands of the world You’ve come
To take for You a single spot,
And from all the flowers of the world
You’ve chosen you one lily furled,
25 “And from all the depths of the sea
You’ve filled Yourself one river’s lea,
And from all cities that are built
You’ve hallowed Zion to the hilt,
26 “And from all the birds You have made
You’ve named for Yourself one dove strayed,
And from all the flocks that You keep
You have provided You one sheep,
27 “And from all multitudes of folk
You’ve taken one people in yoke,
And to this people, whom You’ve loved,
You’ve given the law hand and gloved
Approved by all just as You spoke.
28 “And now, O Lord, why have You given
Over the one to many striven,
Dishonoured the one root beyond
The others, and scattered the frond
Of Your only one in the crowd?
29 “Those who opposed Your promise loud
Have trodden down those who believed
Your covenants, though unreprieved.
30 “If You really hate Your folk’s bands,
Then punish them with Your own hands.”

The lily and the dove are set to right
Between and then above the velvet night.
I see the lily by the path as white
And fragrant as the bird cherry’s delight.
I see the pallid dove in the starshine
And drink them both with eyes on limpid wine.
The lily and the dove are caught by wind
And torn from feathered petals when they sinned.
Beloved, look on the lily strewn upon
The shattered flecks of light before the dawn,
And trust the perfumed plight and pluck the scent.
Beloved, look on the dove with open beak
In silent cry on behalf of the weak,
And thrust the pain from where the white dove went.

31 When I had spoken these words, then
The angel who had come again
To me the previous night was sent
To me, 32 and to me message lent,
“Listen to me, and I’ll teach you,
Pay close attention to my view,
And I will tell you more and true.”
33 And I said, “Speak, sir.” And he said
To me, “Are you discomfited
For Israel? Or do you love
Him more than his Maker above?”
34 And I said, “No, sir, but because
My grief moves me I’ve shown my claws,
For all the time I suffer weight
In my heart and try in my state
To understand the Most High’s way
Searching part of His judgement day.”
35 And he said to me, “You cannot.”
And I replied, “O sir, why not?
Why then was I born in the plot?
Why did I not die in the womb,
So I should not see Jacob’s doom
And the fate of Israel in room?”

Again the question rises to the fore
As always with the human mind in store,
Why do I have ability to count
That reason makes a dent in the amount
If true reality’s beyond my ken?
Why am I created with such a yen?
That is a problem that is sure to fold
Whether a crisis hits the meek and bold
Or whether everything is clear and cold.
Beloved, I hear the turning of the screw,
The philosophic patter of the dew,
And when I touch the answer that is true
The veils return to question things anew.
And yet I see the flashing streaks of gold
And know reality hidden in You.

36 He said to me, “Count up for me
Those who have not yet come to be,
And gather up scattered raindrops,
And make the withered flowers with props
Bloom once again for me in hops,
37 “Open for me the chambers closed,
And bring out winds already posed,
Or show me picture of a voice,
And then I will explain your choice
And make you understand the vice.”

The angel’s challenges have now been met.
At least I’ve seen a picture and sell set
Of the voice speaking, singing on the air
In waves compounded graphically and fair.
I’ve seen the sine wave, square and saw-toothed form
Appear upon the scope and the buzz warm
Reveal the ways and features of the voice
Set clearly for the eye and not ear’s choice.
But the advance of gross technology
Does nothing to set wondering soul free
Of its despair to find eternity
Is lost and tumbled in the mundane chair.
Technology does not remove my care,
Beloved, as I sit in the apple tree.

38 And I said, “O my sovereign Lord,
Who’s able to know these things stored
Except he who lives not with men?
39 “For my part I am here again
Without wisdom, and how can I
Speak about the things on the sly
Which You have asked of me and why?”
40 He said to me, “Well, just as you
Cannot any of these things do,
So you cannot reveal My cause
Or the end of the love in laws
That I’ve promised My folk for straws.”
41 And I said, “Yet indeed, O Lord,
You have charge of those who’re aboard
And living at the close of time,
But what will those do in the grime
Who were before us, or we, or
Those who come after us in chore?”
42 He said to me, “I liken state
Of my judgment to circle’s weight,
Just as for those who are the last
There is no slowness at the cast,
So for those who have the first taste
There is no hurrying or haste.”

The problem Esdras feels is that of time
Seen past to future in unending rhyme,
But You, Beloved, give angels words to say
That time is like a circle in its play,
And what is first is just as last as last,
And what is last is just as first to cast
Its weight upon the ceaseless, shifting shore.
The Greek in me would always ask for more.
Beloved, though life is circular at best,
And history’s a thing never at rest,
I still whirl through the times of life and find
Returning on the hill more than half blind
The soul reveals the transient dance as feet
Seek pirouette in advance and retreat.

43 Then I answered and said, “Could You
Not have created at one brew
Those who have been and those who are
And those who will be on the bar,
So You might show Your judgement sooner?”
44 He answered me and said for tuner,
“Creation cannot make more haste
Than the Creator, nor can space
Hold at one time all in their place.”
45 And I said, “How have You said to
Your servant that You’ll give and true
Life at one time to all Your pew?
If therefore all creatures will live
At one time and creation give
Sustenance to them all, it might
Even be able now in sight
To support all of them in crowd
At this one time, if You allowed.”
46 He said to me, “Ask woman’s womb,
And say to it, ‘If you give room
To bear ten children, why just one
After another when you’ve done?’
Tell it to bear ten at one time.”
47 I said “Of course it can’t for mime,
But only each in its own time.”
48 He said to me, “Even so I
Have given the womb of the earth by
Those who from time to time shall die.
49 “As an infant does not give birth,
And a woman old in her worth
No longer does, so I’ve ordained
The world I created arraigned.”

Dear Ezra comes again to question why
The circle is a movement in the sky
And not a static hope and its fulfilment,
As a fish both breathes and swims by its gillment.
The question is fit for the human brain,
Who’s capable of conceiving the reign
Inevitable of both time and space
While all the while believing there’s no trace
Of either in the deep reality.
The mythopoeic mind is one set free,
And that’s the strength of human race and heart,
As well as the downfall of horse and cart.
Beloved, it is not patience You regard
In man, but ecstasy before the card.

50 Then I inquired and said, “Since You
Have now given to me the view,
Let me speak once more before You.
Is our mother, of whom You speak
Still young? Or is she out to seek
Old age approaching crack and creak?”
51 He answered me, “Ask womankind
Who bears children, and she’ll unblind.
52 “Say to her, ‘Why are those whom you
Have recently given birth to
Not like those to whom you gave birth
Before, but small in height and girth?’
53 “And she herself will answer you,
‘Those born in the strength of her youth
Are different from those born in truth
During the time of old age, when
The womb is failing of women.’
54 “You also should consider that
You and your mates are small and flat
Compared to those who came before,
55 “And those who come after you bore
Will be smaller than you, as born
Of a creation old and worn,
Aging and passing from the strength
Of youth that it once had at length.”
56 And I said, “O Lord, I beseech
You, if I have found grace to reach
In Your sight, show your servant through
Whom You visit creation’s due.”

The concept of degenerations whizzes
About my head in contrast to the fizzes
That evolution would awaken there.
This world is full of the successful fair.
And yet the progress that is tooted here
Is but a tinselled relic of the drear.
The hope that future days may see the spoil
Of death and illness reach back on the coil
Is like to storm the media and take
The innocent in its fell clutch and wake.
Beloved, I see the giants in the view
And think that giantism is the cue
That soon the species will meet fate of all
That turn extinct upon the earthly ball.

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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