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

of the earth. Come now, curse me

Them, then perhaps I shall prevail – ’ The voice said:

Listen, Balaam. You shall not curse this people.

For the Lord has already blessed them. You hear, Balaam?

‘Lord Lord what is the Lord?’ The Lord God,

Balaam. ‘But I have an instruction, an order –

From the king himself. What is this Lord God?’

The voice said, quietly still: I am the king

Of your king and all kings that ever were

And shall be. Therefore, Balaam, I say to you:

You shall not go forth and curse the children of Israel.

So the skull or crocodile was silent. Balaam sat,

Gaping. A dream? No, not a dream. Nor wine,

Not wine, he knew the effects of wine.

The emissaries snored. He sat there, gaping.

In the morning, at first light, as they smacked dry mouths,

Squinting for the wine-jug, he told them, spluttering,

Saying: ‘You understand? You understand me?

It was the voice of the Lord God, so he is called.’ –

‘And not,’ said an elder, ringing the taste of the wine

On his morning mouth, ‘some devil of your own conjuring?

Some devil that consults your interests? I’m empowered to say,

On the king’s behalf, that he had thought of some

Highly tangible reward.’ But Balaam cried:

‘If Balak should give me his palace crammed with silver,

Gold too, rubies, I could not go

Beyond the word of this Lord God, as he is called.

I fear him. It was a quiet voice.’ The elder said:

‘And if Balak should, say, order decapitation,

Preceded by certain ingenuities

Of torture?’ Balaam stoutly said: ‘This Lord God

Would intervene, of this I am sure.’ The second elder,

Not much of a talker, spoke, rasping, saying:

‘Why not call on him now for assurance, Balaam?

Are you certain, by the way, that he exists?

That he was not a phantom induced by carp-flesh

And the damnably heavy wine of Pethor?’ Balaam,

Distressed, said nothing. And the first elder smiled:

‘Come then, O Balaam of my heart, let us go.

There is work to be done, if cursing

Can properly be called work.’ Balaam gulped, saying:

‘Where do I have to go?’ The elders told him:

‘To the plains of Moab, the tents of the Israelites –

There to do your cursing. You have cursing to do.’

The road they took, Balaam ahead on his ass,

Led to a narrow way between two vineyards.

Balaam with servants behind, behind four elders,

Riding an ass, which he preferred to a horse,

Being easier, for one of his bulk, to mount,

Found that the ass responded with a bray of fear

To something she saw, something he did not see.

And she tried to get from the way of what she saw,

Thrusting towards one of the walls. He whipped her, while

The emissaries behind expressed impatience, anxious

To get the cursing over. So she took the road

Again and again brayed fear, thrusting towards the

Other wall. Balaam yelled and beat her,

But, taking the path again, this time she fell

And Balaam fell with her. He rose, his anger was great,

He whipped and whipped, panting. And now she spoke.

Now she spoke. She brayed: ‘What have I done to you?

Why must you beat me three times?’ Balaam cried:

‘Who said that? Who spoke then? Was it you?

You? If I had a sword I’d thrust it straight

Into your faithless flank.’ So the ass brayed:

‘Kill me? Faithless? Am I not your beast?

Have you not ridden me every day?’ He said,

Panting: ‘You mocked me. Do you hear? You mocked me.’

And the ass said: ‘Did I ever mock you before?’

Balaam wept (he is drunk, he is old, he is mad,

The emissaries said to each other). ‘No.’

And he turned to them and to his servants. ‘Did this

Animal really speak? Am I going mad?’

An elder from Midian spoke. ‘A touch of the sun.’

And on that word light brighter than sunlight struck

Balaam, him only, and he fell flat on his face,

Hearing the voice of last night out of the sky:

Your beast saw me and turned thrice from the path.

The Lord God is no figment of man’s mind

But very reality which even the beasts may know.

Your ass has saved you by turning you from the path.

For, Balaam, if you had ridden into my path,

Then surely I would have slain you. Balaam sobbed,

Raised his terrified head towards the light,

Then lowered it, blinded. ‘I have sinned, O Lord.

I have displeased you. I will go back again.’

No, said the voice. Go to the court of the king

And speak there what I shall put in your mouth to speak.

Then the great light faded, leaving the little light,

Birds singing, the ass cropping vineleaves

And Balaam said, trembling: ‘We must go to the king.’

The eldest elder nodded, saying: ‘Yes.

The king must see you. You are obviously

In no fit state for cursing.’ So, in the palace of Moab,

The king was loud: ‘Why? Why? You had your orders.

Your orders were clear. You were to put a curse

On the hosts of Israel. And now you come babbling

About the Lord God, whoever he is.

Are you now in the pay of the Israelites?

Have they cast a spell on you? Are even their

Magicians more potent than ours?’ But Balaam said:

‘I have no power to curse the Israelites.

All I may speak is what the Lord God

Puts in my mouth to speak.’ The king cried: ‘God?

God? You mean the god of the Israelites?’

Balaam said, humbly enough: ‘It seems to me

That such language is foolish. I speak with respect.

No, I do not. Respect and disrespect

To kings and men in high places – what do they mean

To me now? It seems to me that there is only

One God, and though the Israelites

May have found this out before other men, yet this

Does not make him merely a God of the Israelites.

But certainly this God will not curse the Israelites.’

King Balak cried: ‘We have a god of our own.

It seems to me that you have wronged our god.

Ba’al has turned against you. Reparation,

Sacrifice is called for.’ But Balaam shook his head,

Saying: ‘There is only one God,

So this Lord God said to me. And idolatry

Is an abomination before the Lord.’

He seemed ready then to fall into a trance.

The court was shocked at this blasphemy, the king

Outraged. When night fell, Before the idol Ba’al,

With flares and aromatic gums burning, priests

Despatching a