Page:Poems of Emma Lazarus vol 2.djvu/45

To the physician. These he solaced first,
With healing touch, with simples from his pouch,
Warming and lulling, hest with promises
Of constant service till their ills were cured.
And some, gray-hearded, bald, and curved with age,
Blear-eyed from poring over lines obscure
And knotty riddles of the Talmud, brought
Their problems to this youth, who cleared and solved.
Yielding prompt answer to a lifetime's search.
Then, followed, pushed by his obsequious tribe.
Who fain had pedestaled him on their backs.
Hemming his steps, choking the airs of heaven
With their oppressive honors, he advanced.
Midst shouts, tumultuous welcomes, kisses showered
Upon his road-stained garments, through Prague's streets.
Gaped at by Gentiles, hissed at and reviled,
But no whit altering his majestic mien
For overwhelming plaudits or contempt.
Glad tidings Raschi brought from West and East
Of thriving synagogues, of famous men.
And flourishing academies. In Rome
The Papal treasurer was a pious Jew,
Rabbi Jehiel, neath whose patronage
Prospered a noble school. Two hundred Jews
Dwelt free and paid no tributary mark.
Three hundred lived in peace at Capua,