You and I

By Stanley Moss b. 1925 Stanley Moss

You are Jehovah, and I am a wanderer.

Who should have mercy on a wanderer

if not Jehovah? You create and I decay.

Who should have mercy on the decayed

if not the creator? You are the Judge

and I the guilty Who should have mercy

on the guilty if not the Judge? You are All

and I am a particle. Who should have mercy

on a particle if not the All?

You are the Living One and I am dead.

Who should have mercy on the dead if not

the Living One? You are the Painter and Potter

and I am clay. Who should have mercy on clay

if not the Painter and Potter? You are the Fire

and I am straw Who should have mercy on straw

if not the Fire? You are the Listener

and I am the reader. Who should have mercy

on the reader if not the Listener? You

are the Beginning and I am what follows.

Who should have mercy on what follows

if not the Beginning? You are the End and I am

what follows. Who should have mercy

on what follows if not the End?

NOTES: (after an anonymous 13th-century Hebrew poem)

Stanley Moss, “You and I” from A History of Color: New and Collected Poems. Reprinted with the permission of Seven Stories Press, www.sevenstories.com.

Source: A History of Color: New and Collected Poems (Seven Stories Press, 2003)

Biography

Stanley Moss was educated at Trinity College and Yale University and makes his living as a private art dealer, specializing in Spanish and Italian Old Masters. As a child he visited Europe with his family, and after serving in World War II he taught English in Barcelona and Rome, where he became familiar with the religious and mythical figures that appear in his work.

He is the critically acclaimed author of The Skull of Adam . . .

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