|
.....
-Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: Great was my
admiration in listening to the remarks addressed to
the
youth of Ireland a moment since by my learned friend. It
seemed to me that I had been transported into a
country
far away from this country, into an age remote from this
age, that I stood in ancient Egypt and that I was listening
to the speech of some highpriest of that land addressed to
the youthful Moses.
His listeners
held their cigarettes poised to hear, their
smoke ascending in frail stalks that flowered
with his
speech. And let our crooked smokes.
Noble words coming.
Look out. Could you try
your hand at it yourself ?
-And it seemed to me that I heard the voice of that
Egyptian highpriest raised in a tone of like haughtiness
and like pride. I heard his words and their
meaning was
revealed to me.
FROM THE FATHERS
It was revealed to me that those things are good which
yet are corrupted which neither if they were supremely
good nor unless they were good could be corrupted.
Ah,
curse you! That's saint
Augustine.
-Why will jews not accept our culture, our religion
and our language? You are a tribe of nomad herdsmen;
we are a mighty people. You have no cities nor no wealth:
our cities are hives of humanity and our galleys, trireme
and quadrireme, laden with all manner merchandise
furrow
the waters of the known globe. You have but emerged from
primitive conditions: we have a literature, a priesthood, an
agelong history and a polity.
Nile.
child, man, effigy.
By the Nilebank the babemaries kneel, cradle of
bulrushes: a man supple in combat: stonehorned,
stonebearded, heart of stone.
-You pray to a local and obscure idol: our temples,
majestic and mysterious, are the abodes of Isis and Osiris,
of Horus and Ammon Ra. Yours serfdom, awe and
humbleness: ours thunder and the seal.
Israel is weak and
few are her
children: Egypt is an host and terrible are her
arms.
Vagrants and daylabourers
are you called: the
world trembles at our name.
A dumb belch of
honger cleft his speech. He lifted
his voice above it boldly
-But, ladies and
gentlemen, had the youthful Moses
listened to and accepted that view of life, had he bowed his
head and bowed his will and bowed his spirit before that
arrogant admonition he would never have brought the
chosen people out of their house of bondage nor followed the
pillar of the cloud
by day.
He would never have spoken
with the Eternal amid lightnings on Sinai's
mountaintop
nor ever have come doom with the light of inspiration.
shining in his countenance and hearing in his arms the
tables of the law, graven in the languuge of the outlaw. |
