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Read Ebook: The Blood of Rachel a Dramatization of Esther and Other Poems by Noe Cotton
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Ebook has 369 lines and 32690 words, and 8 pages
Citizens Of Shushan, patriots of Persia, friends, The servant of the king has called you here To tell you of his triumph and to ask Your sage advice. Two days ago the prince And I sat down together to a feast Within the palace walls and drank your health. The royal cup was blushing like the spume Of autumn clouds at sunset, when a wail Arose in Shushan that has sore perplexed The people. Mordecai, the haughty Jew, Who sits beside the palace gate, refused To bow or do me reverence, although Admonished by the king. I was born A humble subject in the private ranks Of life; but now I wear the signet ring Of Xerxes. Friends, the law that dooms the Jews To simultaneous slaughter can not be Revoked. Last night the queen invited me To banquet with her lord. The necklace that She wore of iridescent pearls was like A rainbow over polar snows. Ah, she Was fair to look upon! And now my cup Was filled to overflowing--
--when Esther begged that I would come Again to-morrow to another feast Her hand would lay for Haman and the king. My wealth is multiplied beyond my ken; The sceptre is almost within my grasp. But all these things avail me naught, so long As yonder hated Jew remains unbent.
Destroy the brute at once!
Oh, that will not Suffice. 'Tis not his death, but homage that Must sweeten my revenge. Ah, I would see Him groveling on the earth as Haman passed. My rank and station must be recognized. I sit beside the king; I am premier Of Persia. Yet this Jewish dog is still Unmoved!
Hang him where the kites will eat His eyes!
O Zeresh, you are like the rising sun-- An inspiration in the hour of gloom. We'll build this gallows fifty cubits high, And then his Hebrew pride will bite the dust. Oh, I can hear him whining like a cur, My love, your wisdom is above the head. A woman's heart is like an oracle Divine. Prepare this gallows. Friends, I go At dawn to greet the king. At night we dine Alone with Esther, and--
Why Zeresh, are You ill again? Send for the leech. Her blood Is over wrought with too much happiness.
ACT II
SCENE I
Place--The palace of the king. Outer room of banquet hall. Curtain back.
Ahafid has become most deaf of late; Advancing age has wrought a piteous change In him. He can not understand our king.
'Tis not the king but age that makes him groan. I mean this age, the age in which we live.
A country but no king, An empire but no throne, An upstart wears the signet ring, My harp has lost its tone. I can no longer sing great Persia's praise.
The trouble isn't with the harp, the country, king, nor throne; Nor that an upstart wears the ring: Ahafid's voice is gone.
What say you, Smerdis?
Art is marvelous.
Even Ahasuerus once was king, He was a despot, it is true, but still A prince.
If prince, then why not still a king?
Eh, Smerdis?
More than prince and less than king.
Why now the sceptre, aye, almost the crown Are worn by Haman, not of noble birth, But lowborn, vulgar, raised by royal will To first place in a land renowned for blood.
To first place in a land renowned for fools.
What's that?
This Haman is a cunning fox.
The exile of the virtuous Vashti was A fatal sin.
She should have feasted with The king.
I did not hear.
Old Xerxes lost The finest houri in his harem. Oh, The royal fool!
The Jewess Esther's but A girl, as beauteous as a lustrous star, But innocent as dawn of dew-washed day.
As wise as snakes and innocent as doves!
What, Smerdis, what? You catch my simile?
Ah, yes, Ahafid, yes, Aurora in The bath pool. That was fine. Your poetry Like wine improves with age. Go on, go on, Let's have another picture of the dawn.
Her beauty made her queen, but can not save Her life.
Ahasuerus will attend To that.
Ahasuerus does not seem To know a Persian law can not be changed.
He knows that lawyers can be bribed.
What's that?
Just thinking of the lustrous stars of dawn.
But Mordecai believes that Esther can Control the king, and yet may save the Jews.
I am more interested in fools than Jews.
The golden sceptre was extended when She went into his presence yesterday. Last night she banqueted with him but still Refused to name the favor that she wished.
A bathrobe or some new stars for her crown.
The king does not suspect her origin. What will he do when he finds out the truth?
Since when has Xerxes cared for truth?
What say?
He'll add two extra stars to Esther's crown.
Beloved Vashti lives in poverty, The victim of a lewd and brutal whim. And now it seems that Esther's fate was sealed When Haman wrote that every Jew must die Because the Hebrew Mordecai refused Obeisance to his over-bearing pride.
Watch Esther smash that seal.
I did not hear.
Still quoting lines upon the innocence Of lustrous stars, and dawn of dew-washed day.
Minstrelsy shall be no more, The poet's tongue is still; The strings that woke to deeds of yore No longer feel the thrill.
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