The Messiah
by H. Leivick
Tanks and airplanes come, but the Messiah does not come upon them,
The Messiah does not come, nor will he come, upon a tank;
The Messiah does not come, nor will he come, upon a plane.
Brothers, pronounce these words without regret or anger,
Pronounce them gravely, not with chance or whim,
Pronounce them brothers, verily with joy.
Speak with the will of those of us
Who are but putty, but redemption clay
Within the hands of every uniformed redeemer;
And those of us, the weak, lost, and betrayed
Who in the last extreme of wretchedness
Still seek for comfort, saying to ourselves;
“Though he delay, we will not cease to wait him.”
From this it surely follows, O my brothers,
That the Messiah will not come except in a fashion
Foretold by all of our most ancient dreamers:
The Messiah will not come save as the lowly come,
Riding humbly on a donkey’s back.
Therefore do not profane Messiah’s name, O my brothers,
And do not say the present unclean times
Are Messianic times — O do not say it
And do not say the pilot hailing steel and fire,
The marching soldier, helmeted and booted,
Do not say these are the Messiah’s heralds —
Oh do not say it.
For verily, my brothers,
The Messiah will not come in polished boots,
The Messiah will not come in a steel tunic,
The Messiah will not come wearing a helmet,
The Messiah will not come save as the lowly come,
Riding humbly on a donkey’s back.
The world is drowning in a sea of blood,
Because it sanctioned one drop’s shedding.
Blackest of ruin crushes the small dwelling;
The little door laments more piercingly than
The thick gates of fortresses and towers;
For God Himself is not in fortresses —
Neither in Siegfried nor in Maginot,
But in the grain of sand wafted by the wind
To the thin, tender leaf upon a tree.
Therefore do not despair too utterly, my brothers,
But guard the wonder of the grain of sand,
And the faint flutter of the blade of grass
Which with great patience awaits the Messiah’s tread;
Which waits and knows and knows, even as you know, brothers,
That the Messiah will not come, save as the lowly come,
Riding humbly on a donkey’s back. (From the Yiddish)
From Inscriptions 1944-1956
Charles Reznikoff
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