Collected Poems Anthony Burgess (best pdf reader for ebooks txt) 📖

–

‘For what?’ Aaron was startled. ‘For gods, gods,’

She said. ‘Not some big bearded father

Up the mountain or in the sky. Gods such as

The Egyptians have. Gods they can touch and speak to

And chide and beat if they do not behave well.’ –

They are ‘fools’, Aaron said. ‘They do not realise

How far we have come. We, of all the people of the earth,

Know what God is. Not gods – God –

The one containing the many. It is staggering.

Too staggering. Yes, they have been asking for

Gods.’ – ‘And what,’ said Eliseba, ‘do you say to them?

Wait, I will tell you. You thunder and use big words.

You talk of the big invisible God who has brought us

Out of Egypt and into the bondage of sheep-dung.

And they don’t understand.’ – ‘He will make them understand,

My brother.’ She said: ‘You used to be the great explainer.

He was supposed to be slow of speech. Well, talking

Is not enough now. What are you going

To do?’ Roused, he cried: ‘Will you understand

What I say now? I will show them what God is,

Not talk and explain, but show. They need an

Image for their poor minds to cling to. They must

See the strength of God. He carries the sun and the moon

On his brow. He has the power of all the

Beasts of the earth and yet he is gentle, loving.

But that is not God: it is but a picture of God.’ –

‘Time to get up,’ she said. ‘You have ruling to do.’

So that very morning the treasure hoard swung open,

And the gold and silver and jewels of the Israelites

Were brought in baskets joyously while Aaron explained

To the craftsmen and artists what was to be made. One art,

The art of song, was fired while the kiln was built

And the fire puffed within it, and the song was sung

By the people, joyous, their eyes at last to be fed

With something other than promises:

His head is the sun,

He carries the moon on his brow,

His limbs are the north, the west,

The east, the south,

And his breath the winds thereof.

His coat is speckled with the stars.

He strides in power over all the world.

Halleluiah halleluiah.

11

THE GOLDEN CALF

Out of the fire came an indeterminate lump

Of fused gold and silver, but mostly gold,

And the craftsmen worked on it: it became

An indeterminate beast with a crescent moon

On its brow like horns, so that a certain child

Cried: ‘That’s it – that what I saw that time

When we walked through the water – up in the sky it was,

A baby bull.’ The father said: ‘A calf, you mean,

A bull-calf. I see. Like that, was it? A heavenly bull-calf.’

And the parents smiled at each other: Children. Soon

On a rough tumulus the image was ready to be raised

And blocked into place with stone. Aaron was there,

And Aaron spoke to the people who watched, saying: ‘Listen,

Children of Israel, you have asked for gods.

You were wrong to do so, sinful indeed, but the sin

Sprang mostly from ignorance and from inability

To grasp what great thing has happened to us.’ (The craftsmen

Polished the back, the horns, the blunt muzzle.) ‘For what has happened

Is this: we have been chosen by God himself

– Not by gods, not even by a king of gods, but by God,

The one true indivisible God who made us

And made everything. At this moment my brother Moses,

Our leader, our giver of laws, is in converse with the

Voice of God on the mountain top. The voice he hears

Is perhaps his own voice, animated by God,

For God has no voice as a man has a voice. God

Has no body, God is in no one place.

God is spirit, and spirit is unshackled by the

Chains of time and space. God is everywhere.

The image you see before you is not God –

The very idea is absurd. But it will serve

To remind you of God, each day as you pass it. God

Is strength, and this is an image of strength – its head

The sun, the moon on its forehead, its limbs the four

Corners of the world. But it is a loving strength,

A mild strength, the strength of an eternal being

That will never use its strength against us.’ The child cried:

‘A bull-calf, that’s what it is,’ and the people smiled

And Aaron smiled, saying: ‘It is not what it looks like

That is important. What is important is that you

See in it an image of our unity as a people

Chosen by the one true God. At last the silver and gold

Of the Egyptians who enslaved us have been put to

Holy use – the profane made holy, remember that.

What was hidden away is now here to be seen by all

– The richness of a people’s unity – (And now there were jewels for eyes)

And the ultimate unthinkable richness of God himself,

Whose silver is the moon, whose gold the sun,

Whose jewels the eternal constellations of heaven.’

He smiled at the applause, but Miriam,

Standing near with her children, did not smile,

Nor smiled when, in huge moonlight, the young danced about it,

Singing:

Where will our wedding breakfast be?

Up in the fronds of a dikla tree.

What will we drink? What will we eat?

The moon for wine and the sun for meat.

As the old sat by, approving, a bit of life in the evening

Now. ‘It has become the centre of life,’ smiled Aaron.

‘A gathering place for talk and play. It is as if we were

Building a city.’ But Miriam said: ‘Not for long,

Not for that long. I saw some old men this morning

Touching it for luck, as they said. And there was a

Young man giving thanks.’ – ‘It is good to give thanks,’

Said Aaron. – ‘Thanks to an image?’ Miriam said.

‘His wish had come true, something to do with a girl,

And he said that thing was magical.’ – ‘Harmless, Miriam,

Harmless. A simple people needs something simple

To feed its senses.’ – ‘Wait,’ said Miriam. ‘Wait.’

And one evening, the moon still huge, Dathan and his wife

Sat drinking palm-wine, the three thieves with them, and he said:

‘Can you get any more of this stuff?’ – ‘What do we buy it with?’

Said the wall-eyed one. ‘That chunk of gold up there?’ –

‘Risky,’ said the angelic