Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OLD JEW by MAXWELL BODENHEIM

Poet Analysis

First Line: NO FAWN-TINGED HOSPITAL PAJAMAS
Last Line: THEY DWINDLED WHILE HE SOARED.
Subject(s): JEWS; REVOLUTIONS; JUDAISM;
No fawn-tinged hospital pajamas could cheat him
of his austerity
Which tamed even the doctors with its pure fire.
They examined him; made him bow to them:
Massive altars were they, at whose swollen feet
grovelled a worshiper.
Then they laughed, half in scorn of him; and there
came a miracle:
The little man was above them at a bound.
His austerity, like an irresistible sledge-hammer,
drove them lower and lower:
They dwindled while he soared.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net