All his contempt for the tyrants, and his compassion for his people unjustly oppressed, he puts into his poem Ahoti Ruhamah, which is inscribed "to the Honor of the Daughter of Jacob violated by the Son of Hamor."
"Why weepest thou, my afflicted sister?
"Wherefore this desolation of spirit, this anguish of heart?
"If thieves surprised thee and ravished thy honor, if the hand of the malefactor has prevailed against thee, is it thy fault, my afflicted sister?
"Whither shall I bear my shame?
"Where is thy shame, seeing thy heart is pure and chaste? Arise, display thy wound, that all the world may see the blood of Abel upon the forehead of Cain. Let the world know, my afflicted sister, how thou art tortured!
"Not upon thee falls the shame, but upon thy oppressors.
"Thy purity has not been sullied by their polluting touch….
Thou art white as snow, my afflicted sister."
Almost the poet seems to regret his efforts of other days to bring the
Jews close to the Christians.
"What of humiliation hath befallen thee is a solace unto me. Long I bore distress and injustice, violence and spoliation; yet I remained loyal to my country; for better days I hoped, and submitted to all. But to bear thy shame, my afflicted sister, I have no spirit more."