God told Abraham --Kill your son for me --& they
climbed Mount Moriah so there would be a great
distance of rock cloud shadow & light to be sliced in
two --& the perplexing covenant might come to
-----mind as
you stare toward the blue horizon
The knife seems to fall forever
as Abraham (looking like an old man Rembrandt
frequently sketched) palms the bound youth’s face
with a large determined hand to shield him from the
sight
The knife seems to fall forever
giving you time to think of bloody Passover --of
-----Jesus
as sacrificial lamb --of what kind of god would ask
-----so
much --& what kind of father could do it (as a
windblown angel seizes the old man’s wrist)
Then you notice the eyes --bloodshot & observant
of a ram caught in a thicket --This is no happy
-----ending
Three centuries after Rembrandt
the knife still falls
(This poem first appeared in Christianity & Literature. Unlike my previous posts, this is not from my chapbook)
So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed - Award Of Merit (2008) The Word Guild
A poetic journey with the poet's missionary grandparents to the China they served in between 1923 and 1951. CHECK OUT THE REVIEWS OF BOTH BOOKS (below)
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1 comment:
I have the picture as my desktop background thingy, its cool and kind of creepy at the same time.
Your poem is pretty good. No punctuation. There is transitions from perspectives, which threw me off a little (only a little). In the beggining it seemed like the poem was about the actual event but then I had the feeling that it was leaning more to the picture by Rembrandt.
I changed my mind: this poem is good.
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