R. Abraham Saba of Spain, in Portugal, 1407 - Poem

Judaism, Fall, 2002 by Jennifer Barber

R. Abraham Saba of Spain,
in Portugal, 1407

   Now Portugal too
   has changed.

   In Guimares, the town crier said
   all books and phylacteries
   must be turned over
   at the Lisbon synagogue
   on pain of death.

   We listened,
   I stood trembling.

   Before we reached the city, I
   buried my manuscripts--
   last memories of Spain--
   under the roots
   of an olive tree.

   This morning, a man
   they beat with straps
   for not letting go
   of a book of prayers

   was kicked to the ground
   and taken. Here
   in the courtyard
   of the great synagogue,
   none of us knows what's next.

JENNIFER BARBER edits the literary journal Salamander and has published recent poems in Harvard Review, Partisan Review, and Four Way Reader #2.