Collected Poems by Anthony Burgess (best e ink reader for manga txt) 📕

is nothing more in the royal instructions.’

‘Nevertheless,’ said Moses, ‘there is something more.

We must wait for that something more.’ The minister cried:

“’hat manner of man are you? If you wish something more,

You may have it from me – the loathing of

One who did ill to no man and yet was compelled

To suffer. Who lost two of his dearest – No matter.

You are stone men. You ask something more

That our suffering may be prolonged. Go. You heard the order.

See – it is written clear. Why can you not go?’

And a voice said: ‘Yes. Why can they not go?’ The Pharaoh

Stood by a door of ornate gold, attended

By torchbearers, cold loathing on his face, saying:

‘They cannot go because they know there is something more.

What is the something more? You, Aaron, his voice –

What is it?’ Aaron said: ‘We are to go

Into the desert for three days, there to do sacrifice

In the middle of our month of Nissan. Men, women, children.

With our beasts, our goods – ’ But Pharaoh cried out: ‘No.

You have eaten of the bread of Pharaoh, drunk his wine.

For three days you shall neither eat nor drink.

You will sacrifice fasting. Then you will return.

Your beasts will bleat and bellow a welcome home.

Your pitiful goods will lie snug, awaiting you.

This is the contract. That the god cease his torments.

That you go forth for three days, three days only.’

But Moses said, ‘This, Pharaoh, will not do.

Your covenant with us was broken. Long ago.

There is no bond between us. When we leave this land

It shall be as free men. Taking with us our wives.

Taking our children. Sheep. Oxen. Goods –

Such as they are. Not the paring of a nail

Shall be left in Egypt. Not a hair or a scale

Of the skin of the beast.’ But Pharaoh cried:

‘You go forth naked. Naked you return.’

‘No.’ And Moses was not now slow of speech.

‘Your heart is still hard against the Lord and against the

Servants of the Lord. The land has suffered,

The king of the land must see the suffering brought home.

There is, Pharaoh, one last trial, the tenth,

And it will still not fall directly on your head.

You will live, whole and free, to see

The Israelites leave Egypt. But the trial to come

Will be the worst trial in the world. Do you now relent?’

But Pharaoh said: ‘The Pharaoh is not threatened.’

And then his stone face became flesh, then the flesh writhed,

And the tongue ground out: ‘If I see your face again…’

But Moses bowed to the words, calm, saying:

‘So be it. This is the last time, Pharaoh,

The last time you will ever see my face.’

They left the presence, the palace, walking surely through

Howling darkness, until, on Goshen’s border,

They walked through howling darkness like a wall

Into sun, clean air, and the song of fresh water.

Moses shuddered. The last thing coming. The last.

The tenth figure of the dance. But Pharaoh had willed it.

Men will even their own destruction. A heavy burden,

Free will, Moses sighed to himself, seeking fresh water,

No torment in the world greater than freedom.

6

THE PASSOVER

Moses, in sunlight, with the whirring of Miriam’s doves

And the cry of children about him, sighed and spoke

Softly of the Angel of Death. ‘Who shall describe him?

Or her? Or it? Like a trained hound of the hunters

He has the scent in his nostrils. He follows the scent.

He will follow the scent of the first-born.’ Miriam said:

‘You were told this?’ And Moses replied: ‘It is the

Last thing. The tenth figure of the dance.

Four days from now on the night of the

Fourteenth day of Nissan. The nose and the teeth of the

Angel of Death will dart straight

For the first-born. Whether Egyptian or Israelite –

It will be no matter to him of the

Separating of the nations. Even the

First-born whelp of a bitch’s litter. The

Hatchling of the hen. He will go for the scent.’

And Miriam, in terror: ‘For ours? For our

First-born?’ But Moses said: ‘Have no fear.

We have a secret. We will put him off the scent.’

So Aaron that day addressed the people, saying:

‘With your loins girded, sandals on your feet,

Staff in your hand, you shall be ready. So says the Lord.

For the time is with us. You shall eat the flesh of the lamb

Roasted, eat it in haste. And the bread your eat with it

Shall be unleavened, shall be a bread of haste,

With no time for the leavening. And you shall

Season your meat with bitter herbs, that the

Bitterness of the exile shall be in your mouths

At the very door of the exodus. Kill now and

Pray as you kill, for you kill in the name

Of the Lord’s Passover.’ So the knives came down

On the necks of the lambs, and Pithom was

All blood and bleating for a space. Passover,

Some said, what is Passover? Moses explained

In his old halting way: ‘We call it Passover,

And shall call it Passover till the end of our race,

For tomorrow we pass over from death to life.

And this strange supper we take tonight

In a ceremony. We shall have need of ceremonies.

To remind us who we are. What we are.

Till the end of our race. And the lamb we kill,

Each of our households, the lamb we eat

Is an offering to the Lord, who leads us

In our passing over from death to life.’ But of that other

Passing over he did not for the moment speak,

Learning fast the beneficent wiles of the leader.

So Aaron said: ‘On the lintels of your dwellings

And on the doorposts, you shall daub some of the

Lamb’s blood, as a sign.’ As a sign of what?

So the bolder asked, and Aaron said: ‘As a sign

Of the primal sacrifice, wherein we kill,

And of the second sacrifice, wherein we eat,

Marking the place where ‘we eat’’ [beneficent wiles].

The daubing was done and inspected, and, on the fires,

The tender flesh seethed, while in the ovens

The heard heavy bread was baked. So at nightfall

All were ready to sit, girded, sandalled,

The children excited, and there was laughter,

Even song, for the time was coming. ‘The time is coming,’

They said, but not really believing,

For this was a ceremony only of deliverance.

But in Aaron’s house where all the blood of Amram

Sat, fingering bitter