"yankev" poems
Letter Of A Young Polish Nobleman,
Warsaw, 1759
There was a farce performed the other day
In the cathedral, where, as is my wont,
I'd gone to mass. While kneeling near the font,
I saw, when I had just begun to pray,
A mob of filthy Jews swarm up the aisle
To be baptised. The King himself was there
And even stood as sponsor to a pair
Of thick lips with a most unpleasant smile.
Back home, I asked my steward, Mendel Gryn,
What it had been about. "Pan Casimir,"
He said, "The man you saw was Yankev Frank,
Those were his followers: they claim that sin
Leads Man to God, but now, baptised, I hear
They've all been raised, by law, to noble rank."
Sep 27, 2012
Sep 27, 2012 at 11:01 PM UTC