| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | In the Hour of Need | | By Leto (In the Graphic) |
| | | D’YE see that shop at the corner, with the three balls over the door? | |
| A pawnshop? Yes, it is, my lad—just that, and nothing more, | |
| Nothing remarkable in that? You see ’em every day? | |
| No doubt you do. But wait a bit, and let me say my say. | |
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| Four months ago my little wife was ill as she could be; | 5 |
| I thought I should have lost her, but you see she is still with me: | |
| I owe her life to him, my lad! To who d’ye ask?—to who? | |
| To the old man at that popshop there!—and mark me, he’s a Jew! | |
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| That staggers you, I thought it would. But bear with me a bit; | |
| It won’t take long to let you have the sense and soul of it; | 10 |
| Fanny was ill, and times were bad, and I’d no work to do; | |
| Fanny got worse, and then I took to visiting the Jew. | |
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| Fanny got worse, and worse, and worse,—my God; she was so ill; | |
| And the times that were so tight before, my lad, got tighter still; | |
| I pawned my things—such as they were—and I pawned my wife’s things too, | 15 |
| Till nothing was left to pawn—and still I had no work to do! | |
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| I was starving—downright starving!—and Fanny was almost dead, | |
| One night as I sat, with tight-clasped hands, beside my poor girl’s bed; | |
| I closed my eyes in a dreamy way—didn’t sleep you understand;— | |
| When I opened ’em I saw the Jew, with a basket in his hand! | 20 |
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| He was only a hook-nosed, crook-back Jew, but he seemed an angel then, | |
| For he brought new life to my dying wife, and made her strong again! | |
| If Heaven is full when he dies, I know they’ll make room for the Jew!… | |
| There! that’s the short of it, my lad,—and every word is true! | | | | |
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