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PSALM 137

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, ept, e remembered Zion

We hanged our harps upon the s in the midst thereof

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us s of Zion

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusale If I do not reue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy

Remember, 0 Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof

0 daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones

PROEM

Murdered Her hair was black and so were her eyes It happened on Fifth Avenue, thestore, amid hustle and bustle Hysteria as she fell perhaps

Soundlessly I saw it on the television screen Esther I knew her Yes, Esther Belkin She'd been a student once in my class Esther Rich and lovely to behold

Her father He was the head of that ide tee platitudes and T-shirts And the Belkins had all the s could ever want or dreairl who had always asked her questions so timidly- was dead

On the news, "live," I think I saw her die I was reading a book, not payingarish flickers on the walls of the room The silent leap and flare of a television watched by no one I read on after she died "live"

Now and then in the days that followed I thought about her So to do with her father and his electronic church More blood shed

I never knew her father His followers had been detritus on street corners

But I re, one of those kind, hu, and sweet, yes, very sweet I reirl slain and then the tragedy of her father's delusions

Part I

I never tried to understand the whole story

I forgot about her I forgot that she'd been ot that she'd ever been alive

There was news and news and news

It was ti for a while

I went away to write my book I went up into the mountains I went to the snow I hadn't so much as offered a prayer in Esther Belkin'sman