XIV

Host of the seas immense! O tender Pelican!

Swell, O wheat-thick era, to mercy-days of bread –

Such a soul is needed, who’ll take the cruse in hand

To sate with Christ’s Flesh and Blood those who would be fed.

Such a soul is needed, who’ll set some ardent brands

At the feet of crucifixes black, their ghast torture

To reach for, that Love there, with wide-spread nail-pierced hands

World-absolving, loosing fardels of misfortune –

And reaching for hearts so wretched, the most brittle;

The glow of that Heart pierced, to those hearts to display,

In both of those hearts a bonfire to enkindle

With an ever fiercer, human yearning to pray;

Each man, now’s the time!, now’s the era to be spurred

To seek the Spirit, longing, brothered in the Word.

PSALM

Lord, David I, Isaiah’s son

Of Piast I am the scion,

Thou burnst Thy mark upon my heart

My ear follows Thy rhyme.

Thou’st clad with spring, with yearning spring

My flesh, my strength of withers;

May autumn, when it swells, not burst

The strings of my yearning zither.

David am I, a shepherd lad,

I sing in begging strain

That Thou have mercy upon Piast

And let us reap the grain.

And should the hulk Goliath rear

My youth to break with pride,

May Sion and Moriah plead,

Lord – stand Thou at my side!

(thus the matins song)

of David – the Shepherd

Excerpts from David’s Psalter (The Book of the Slavs), translated by Charles S. Kraszewski

(Before the entry of the Prologus

the gates of the theatrum spread open wide

and there you see:

merely steps, arrayed in one tier

a backdrop of three open walls

divided by a colonnade

of double columns, simple rows.)

PROLOGUS

There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name

was Job, and he walked in righteousness before

both God and man

– and the Lord gave him seven sons

and daughters three

– and multiplied his earthly goods:

seven thousand sheep and camels three,

five times one hundred oxen yoked

– and so too did He fill his house

with servants numerous.

(…)

8. Swag art thou for the ravens black.
9. Upon thy brow sift ash in sorrow.
10. For now a terror grips us fast
11. We must undo thy gall and grief.
12. Kindle a fire unto the Lord

Bewail thy sins.

(The chorus disperses on all sides

and Job remains there all alone

beside the slab of sacrifice.

Job gets up slowly, shuffles close

and tosses myrrh upon the ash.

The embers flame, the myrrh ignites

and flame and incense climb aloft.

In clouds of incense Job takes voice:)

JOB

Blessed forever be Thy Name.

Thou hast given,

Thou takest away.

Thine is the Will and Thine the Power.

Just as it has seemed good to Thee

thus has it come to be –

Thou hast given,

Thou takest away –

Blessed forever be Thy Name.

What is a man before Thee, Lord?

Though he have wealth and dowry,

though he be worthy in his soul,

what is a man before Thee, Lord?

A leaf chivvied by the fall wind,

a blade of grass bent by the gale.

– I thought myself a wealthy man.

I thought me worthy in Thine eyes

and I am naked – naked now –

naked I left my mother’s womb

and I am naked now –

– what of goods?

– what of sons?

Thou tramplest them, for Thine the right;

Thou seizest them, for Thine the right,

and that I naked be,

and that a wretch I be,

exposed to misery

– What is righteousness before Thee?

– What is humanity to Thee? –

Behold – the spirits to Sheol

descend, and what remains of them?

Blessed forever be Thy name.

Thou hast given

Thou takest away –

And I am righteous? – What of that?

Excerpt from Job, translated by Charles S. Kraszewski