End Of A Jewish Con Man

End Of A Jewish Con Man I know that you will die among gray walls, Divided from the refuse of the street, Amid the reek of moldy food, Among the stink of over handled books And stale ejaculations of the prison cell.

I know your fading mind will take you back To polished oak and leather chairs, To greedy staring of the would be rich And wonder wheels of fortunes never made.

To lucky cards which count themselves again ­ A flush, a straight, a stupid little pair.

You made yourself the second thief, who, on the left, Hurled insults at the lovely face of Christ.

A Jew who fits the heinous stereotype, So often given to the helpless Tribe.

You became a loathsome caricature, And took on what cannot be borne: The hatred and the spitting of this Earth, The mockery and whipping of this world, Your beard pulled out, the thorns pushed into place, The planets sin and all its dreary race Bowed down, Did you think that you would rise, Upon the wheel of opposites nailed straight?

Would be example to the poor Of what the rich deserve and all that's wrong Set right? If so I wish you well and that your doom, Is but the entering of sleep's cocoon.

Carl Estrin