"Would a man 'scape the rod?"
  Rabbi Ben Karshook saith,
"See that he turn to God
  The day before his death."

"Ay could a man enquire
  When it shall come!" I say,
The Rabbi's eye shoots fire—
  "Then let him turn to-day!"

Quoth a young Sadducee:
  "Reader of many rolls,
Is it so certain we
  Have, as they tell us, souls?"

"Son, there is no reply!"
  The Rabbi bit his beard:
"Certain, a soul have I—
  We may have none," he sneer'd.

Thus Karshook, the Hiram's-Hammer,
  The Right-hand Temple-column,
Taught babes in grace their grammar,
  And struck the simple, solemn.


[Rome, April 27, 1854]