Paper Bridges: Selected Poems of Kadya Molodowsky

The Fife-Player of Sodom

The Fife-Player of Sodom In Sodom there was a fife-player. Forever and a day. His body is burn layered upon burn, O, woe to thefife-playerof Sodom. The fife-player of Sodom sings: When the stars, in harness, walk On the heavenly wheel— Who's travelling so high up there? Probably God. Why doesn't He stay standing here Above the City of Tears? Above Sodom, Where I, the fife-player, Have my throne on the mountain of ash. Then, like me, He would Make himself a fife, Cut out seven slits For wince and woe, Woe and wound, Wound and wail. Onefife-slavealone Cannot Redeem Sodom from the Sodomites. Almighty God, It's blood upon blood In Your Sodom. Why have you elected me To sing this Hallelujah for You, At evening prayer, when the sun sets, At morning prayer, when the light arrives?185 401 184 ,&>} ]?p DT70 , m Vm pK tw jya^p p i *pKi pK ,nn px ijp-?§ tra ,0X11 "IKS ^KT ,0X11 "IKS ^KT K DK11 "IKS ,K rs ps pt wrwstt Drn-iy ]K p^a^x ps .ono |is ny^s^-yin Djn ^n K pK ,DT70 T'K D11 Kt?n T'lK KDn j n n "iyi t?^ 7K |IK ''Sn pK p& nyVw-snvT ajn m K p i rx "IKS FK^S-I"! r x DK1T ]1K n pK nis ]IK bprn K pa ps a ^Ka pp rx DKII y IK p^a^x ps .DIID )is nyVw-snvr ojn m K 402 Sodom cannot And does not want And does not need to hear Your name. With fire and fury, Wherever I stand and wherever I sit down— Death is engraved upon my forehead. Tell why, O, why blooms the golden rye? Tell why, O, why is it decreed myfifeto be Carved from the dark thorn? Forever and a day O, woe to thefife-playerfrom Sodom. Almighty God, Sword rings upon sword in Sodom, Sin rests upon sin in Sodom, Power upon power— And I with the fife In prayer-like hand Lie all night on the pallet of agony. Forever and a day, O, woe to thefife-playerof Sodom. Almighty God, Do tell, on which foundation Is Your resting-place built? And what is a resting-place for God, When the Tigris and the Euphrates and the Vistula—186 Flow red From my open wound, From my anguishing death That is never dead? Forever and a day, O, woe to thefife-playerof Sodom. 403 rx f?8 in rx p^x i n ^ o nynp p^n oj; x p^x i •»ayn H -px Trip njn »•»» ^x orn iyi &Vnn oy rx - «]^ snsnjwo x pW i n ^ a Dayn H px pinp nyi D^ ny rx nx^ oxi .wo ]ix lain ] yn x p T pn ix ^yn nyi •D&ttfys px D'TitnxS »^n pVxs oxi oxn i y 404 ...