Ben Karshooks Wisdom
By Robert Browning
Would a man scape the rod?
Rabbi Ben Karshook saith,
See that he turn to God
The day before his death.
Ay could a man enquire
When it shall come! I say,
The Rabbis eye shoots fire
Then let him turn to-day!
Quoth a young Sadducee:
Reader of many rolls,
Is it so certain we
Have, as they tell us, souls?
Son, there is no reply!
The Rabbi bit his beard:
Certain, a soul have I
We may have none, he sneerd.
Thus Karshook, the Hirams-Hammer,
The Right-hand Temple-column,
Taught babes in grace their grammar,
And struck the simple, solemn.
Rome, April 27, 1854