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Star-Crossed Cento

Thu, 03/05/2015 - 6:00am

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A cento poem for Purim from the perspective of Haman's wife, drawing only from works authored by women.

Auspicious queen compare with me,
after Benjamin, triumphed gloriously,
And I, some strange race, wrecked, solitary,
in my aim I strive to comprehend thee.

I dropped my honour in innocent security,
his wife in power, pride and cruelty:
conqueror's care, my desire, set him a deity.
But you wedded, bright jewel, the King's Majesty.

The Lord gave you dominion over the mighty,
God have armed thy race for thee.
The stars in their courses fought fiercely,
the point of a sword for thine enemies.

And higher than a fool can reach is he
the strange Tyrannic power, and his seed.
My poor heart alone is left to weep,
While thine the victor is, and free.

From the Latin for "patchwork," a cento is made up of lines from other poems. In recognition of Women's History Month, this Purim poem is drawn only from the works of other women.

Aphra Behn ("Loved Armed" and "Angellica's Lament"), Anne Bradstreet ("To My Dear and Loving Husband"), Mary Elizabeth Coleridge ("Jealousy"), Deborah (Judges 5), Emily Dickinson ("I felt a Funeral, in my Brain"), Miriam (Exodus 15), Phillis Wheatley ("On Virture")