Select Poetry.

New Zealander, Volume 10, Issue 888, 18 October 1854, Page 3

Select Poetry.

THE JEWISH MARTYR [From the Sydney Herald, Sept. 27.] *' Bring forth the Jew !” Ben Hassan said, “ the caitiff of his creed, Who lias reviled our holy faith, and triuetphed in the deed. Blaspheming great Mahomed’s name, by Allah, he shall die, . Upon his own accursed head the blasphemy shall lie. Woe unto thee, thou Jewish dog ! if you fail to clear the gui't That is preferred against thee. Deny it if thou wilt; But decided proof of innocence must in clearest light be showiij, Or, by Medina's holy shrine, the flame shall have its own. How say you. Giaour, to the crime ? The charge that’s now preferred By Mica, his the gravest that was ever told or heard. Be careful then, and hove a mind you add not lie to lie ; If truth lie not found uppermost, the bowstring’s strength we’ll try.” •» T am not guilty of the charge; ’tis foul and falsely made ; ’Tis jealousy and envy in dreadful form conveyed— Conveyed to suit the purpoeof him who brings me here: A fell' w merchant with my elf: we’ve traded many a year. I i o.cr even thought the wo ds—tl e blasphemy yot name; I sweir by Heaven I’m innocents I’ll ever swear the same. It is against our holy creed, which teaches us to love Kach and all our fellow men—’tis true, as God’s above. And not revile or lightly spiak, whate’er the creed may be. As this is taught, so I have learnt, —the guilt is not with me-” “ All, all is false, you are not believes!,” Bea Hassan sternly said—- “ Vonr oaths and protestations alike to me are dead. Upon the Koran’s holy bo >k tho blasphemy is sealed: The charge .is proved against thee, thy heinous guilt revealed— Thv star has set, thy doom is fix’d : liefore the setting sun Shall light the tops of yonder hill, know that thy race i» run; For death awaits with greedy hand so great again as thou, And what avails thy holy zeal in such a time as now > That boasted zea which warms your heart, that luiks within your bread, Mayhap we ll try j your courage, too. shall also feel the test, A Mufti waits in solemn guise,—say, wilt thou join hil band, And with him swell the numbers that live in every land. Who believe in great Mahomet’s name, thrice blessed may he be— Wilt thou a Mussulman become? --if so, thou art free.” •• Vnu’ll not I and say you’d rather die, then by my faith you're true: First hear the roar, then see the blaze! you know not what you do.” * ***** The faggot curls a fiery wreath—behold a funeral pyre ! Before its glowing embers fierce shall blanch, shall wane—expire, A sacrifice of human blood, of flesh, and human bone. Must drip and crackle in that blaze; ’tis there no mercy’s shown. Vet there he stands, the Martyr, unerring, true to God; So steadfast in his dire resolve, he firmly paced the sod. Undaunted by the racking thought of the death that did await— A death of dreadful torture, of pain and anguish great. His wa« the hope, the vital hope, the hope that never dies; The hope that smiles at vengeance, and bloody men defies. The solemn, grand, and heavenly thought, of devotion, constant, true. Which had marked his too young fleeting life, now gave bin strength anew; And through the bitter vale of tears, the vale that lea Is to death. The unity of Israel’s Cod he praised with sainted breath. *• Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God—the Lord our God is one; Blessed be His name for evermore. His holy will be done! Receive my soul. Almighty God. I am resigned to die— Hallow’d be thy name—the terror’s past —the horror I defy I Come, flame, come, hiss and crackle—come seethe the blood of youth— Mine be a mortal’s triumph to die for faith and truth.” With pinion’d arms and legs secure they hurl'd him on the blaze, A shriek was heard, a maddened shriek—such as dreadful tortures raise. Was all that rose upon the air—wxs ail his soul gave out. Thus perished martyr’d Sebay»— the pious, the devout. Moss Marks.