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

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What he knew he must see: dust and enveloping smoke

About the tabernacle, and the three false priests

Not there, but the people on their knees in terror.

Dathan no more: the earth had eaten Dathan.

And Moses spoke to himself: Yet mercy is infinite.

At least let us believe so. Dathan, Dathan,

I shall miss your thorn in my side . . .

Now, by a different way, skirting the mountains

And the fierce foes beyond them, in a new unity,

But wretched, they fared on, leaving behind

Carcasses in the desert, as foretold,

Seeking Mount Hor. Jolted in a cart,

Attended by his wife and sons, Aaron lay,

The wound on his thigh grown green, in great pain,

With nauseous ointments lapped by the blowflies. ‘So’,

Eliseba his wife said, ‘your reward

For protecting that tabernacle of yours’. She wept.

‘The pain’, he said, ‘grows less. The wound will sleep.’ –

‘But not the fever. The fever is very much awake.’

Aaron said: ‘I will be better at the oasis.

Trees and running water. Fruit.’ She wiped his lips

With a towel, and he spoke to Eleazar,

His son, saying: ‘You know what you must do

When we reach Mount Hor?’ And the son replied:

‘I must become a priest.’ – ‘A priest,’ said his father.

‘You must take over my office, wear my garments.

Eleazar the priest. Your mother will be proud.’

But she said: ‘Do not talk like that.’ And Aaron:

‘It is never too soon to prepare him for the task.

It is the task and the glory that his sons

And his son’s sons must fulfil till the end of our race.

A task and a glory he will take with him into Canaan.

It is he who will perform the rite of thanksgiving.’

But Eliseba said: ‘You will be well soon.

You will be there in all your robes and glory.’

But Aaron replied: ‘The journey is by no means over.

We cannot enter in peace. Bitter enemies –

Those are to be faced. Oasis to oasis,

Skirting the promised land, seeking a way in

That is not to be granted so easily. Eliseba,

You have known a hard life.’ – ‘All life is hard,’

She said. ‘It is the nature of life

To be hard. But there have been – Well, shall I say

The hardness has made the pleasures more pleasurable.

I do not complain. Try now to sleep a little.’

So she laid his head in her bosom, and he slept.

But slept less, raving, as the fever raved,

And ceased to rave when they came in sight of the mountain,

Speaking strange words softly, and soon no words,

No breath for words. She shut his eyes for ever.

He was borne on a litter, in his priestly robes,

Up to the mountain-top. Gently, Moses

Took off the priestly garments, and invested

Eleazar, the son of Aaron, in them,

And Eleazar led the chant, against the morning,

Blessing all, finally blessing his father

Who lay in the morning for ever. Moses spoke:

‘I speak of him as my brother first – faithful,

Unwavering in his faith. My very voice,

My other heart. And of the house of Israel

None was more brave, more steadfast. His mouth was of gold,

The spirit of the Lord burned in him. Now we see him

Gathered to his fathers. God grant him rest.

God grant that his spirit ever animate

The race he so adorned, lending it

Something of his strength, of his faith.

So be it.’ But to himself he said:

And how long will the race last? We are dying,

The old men are dying. Can the young

Survive? Can they keep the fire alight? He foresaw

A desert of corpses, foreheard travelling voices:

Dead so long ago. So much time passed.

That body there – that could be my father’s.

A powerful people – at least a numerous people.

Have they disappeared? Are they gone for ever?

The end of them, the end of them, I’d say.

It would be a kind act to bury these dead.

But they are already buried. Already forgotten.

Just dead bodies. Without a name.

Without a race. He shook the voices away,

And turned again to the task of quieting

Real voices, living voices. So they moved towards Edom,

Living bodies, with a name, with a race, moved.

And one day, in the palace of the king of Edom,

A crude barbaric throneroom, eating grapes,

Handmaidens about him, the king sat

While a chamberlain spoke. ‘Ganas voti,’ the king said.

So in they came, dusty, travel-worn, bowing,

Joshua and Caleb: ‘May we speak, sir king?’

The king nodded, spitting grape-seeds. Joshua:

‘You will have heard of our nation. Israel.

We have been in bondage to Egypt for many years,

Not only our generation but generations

And generations before us. We cried out to the Lord

And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt. Now we are in

Kadesh, on the border of your kingdom.

We are sent to ask leave to pass

Peacefully through your country.’ The chamberlain

Translated into the dialect of the kingdom:

The king showed little interest. Caleb said:

‘We promise, majesty, not to pass through your fields,

Or through your vineyards. We promise not to drink

Of the waters of your wells. We promise to go

Only by the king’s highway – yours, majesty.

We will not turn to the right hand nor to the left,

Until we have passed your borders.’ The king listened,

Spitting a fig now, and at length said: ‘Nor vah.’

‘I am instructed’, said the chamberlain, ‘to inform you

That the answer is no’. The king spoke a longer sentence:

‘Go nadi daya, goro mi nadi nadi in vebu.’ –

‘His majesty’s words are these: if you try to pass,

We will slay you all with the sword.’ Regretfully.

‘That was sufficiently plain,’ Joshua said.

‘I am instructed to add that if our people

Or their cattle drink of the water of your kingdom,

Then we will pay for it.’ The king waved a violent fig:

‘Garata karvol. Nor vah nor vah.’ The chamberlain

Began to translate, but Joshua said:

‘We understand.’ They looked at each other wearily.

The king offered grapes, figs. They refused.

Handmaidens. Regretfully, they refused.

So Moses sought another road, young men about him,

Men even younger than Caleb and Joshua,

While he traced a map in the sand, saying: ‘Yes,

We are ready to progress, Joshua.’ They smiled.

‘But not by the northern road. We are, thank God,

Much better warriors than we were, but hardly

Good enough yet to face those northern armies.

So we have to think of another road.’ But all roads

Led, it seemed, to