Classic Poem

Rabbi Ben Ephraim never more
Saw Cordova. For the Lord had will'd
That the dust should be dropp'd on his eyes before
The curse upon Israel was fulfill'd.
Therefore he ended the days of his life
In evil times; and by the hand
Of Rachel his daughter, and Zillah his wife,
Was laid to rest in another land.
But, before his face to the wall he turn'd,
As the eyes of the women about his bed
Grew hungry and hard with a hope unfed,
And the misty lamp more misty burn'd,
To Zillah and Rachel the Rabbi said
Where they might find, if fate turn'd kind,
And the fires of Cordova, grown slack,
Should ever suffer their footsteps back,
The tomb where by stealth he had buried his wealth
When he fled from the foe, and the stake, and the rack;
And how to open that tomb; and where
To seek within it the wealth hid there,
By means of a spiral, cut down the abyss
To the dead men.