文章基本信息

标题：R. Abraham Saba of Spain, in Portugal, 1407. .
作者：Barber, Jennifer
期刊名称：Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought
印刷版ISSN：0022-5762
出版年度：2002
期号：September
语种：English
出版社：American Jewish Congress

摘要：

 R. Abraham Saba of Spain, in Portugal, 1407   Now Portugal too  has changed.   In Guimares, the town crier said  all books and phylacteries  must be turned over  at the Lisbon synagogue  on pain of death.   We listened,  I stood trembling.   Before we reached the city, I  buried my manuscripts--  last memories of Spain--  under the roots  of an olive tree.   This morning, a man  they beat with straps  for not letting go  of a book of prayers   was kicked to the ground  and taken. Here  in the courtyard  of the great synagogue,  none of us knows what's next.

R. Abraham Saba of Spain, in Portugal, 1407. .

Barber, Jennifer

R. Abraham Saba of Spain,
in Portugal, 1407

 Now Portugal too
 has changed.

 In Guimares, the town crier said
 all books and phylacteries
 must be turned over
 at the Lisbon synagogue
 on pain of death.

 We listened,
 I stood trembling.

 Before we reached the city, I
 buried my manuscripts--
 last memories of Spain--
 under the roots
 of an olive tree.

 This morning, a man
 they beat with straps
 for not letting go
 of a book of prayers

 was kicked to the ground
 and taken. Here
 in the courtyard
 of the great synagogue,
 none of us knows what's next.

JENNIFER BARBER edits the literary journal Salamander and has published recent poems in Harvard Review, Partisan Review, and Four Way Reader #2.