Explore "Ben Karshook's Wisdom" by Robert Browning on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I
"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 inquire / When it shall come! " I say. / The Rabbi's eye shoots fire -- / "Then let him turn to-day!"
II
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 sneered.
Thus Karshook, the Hiram's-Hammer, / The Right-hand Temple-column, / Taught babes in grace their grammar, / And struck the simple, solemn.