GENESIS 23 - THE BELOVED AND I

Genesis 23

1 Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-

Seven years, and these years were plenty

In Sarah's life. 2 So Sarah died

In Kirjath Arba (that's beside

Hebron) in Canaan's land, and came,

Did Abraham, to mourn the name

Of Sarah and weep for her fame.



The brittle, angry Sarah now in death

Calls forth from Abraham more than a breath

In sighs. I wonder did she oft regret

The indoor plumbing gracing Ur, forget

The miles of waste and sand between her land

Of birth and land of death and what is worse

Her land of living. Few can understand

How many years of disappointment curse

The life of Sarah. Few can know her pain.

Her only joy was Isaac's birth and plain

And lifelong jealousy for men and looks.

Her desert life did not include good books,

Or theatre and concerts: dreary dying

Without tv or videos for vying.



3 Then Abraham stood up before

His dead wife, and then spoke some more

To the sons of Heth, saying 4 "I

Am just a foreigner and my

Visit among you is extended.

Give me a burying place intended

To bury from my sight my dead."

5 The sons of Heth replied to him,

To Abraham, 6 "Hear to the brim,

My lord: You are a mighty prince

Among us, bury your dead since

The choicest places are all free

And none of us will charge a pea,

So bury your dead where you wish."

7 Then Abraham stood up to fish

And bowed himself before the folk

Of the land, sons of Heth and spoke

And said to them 8 "If it's your wish

That I bury my dead, then dish

A deal for me with Ephron son

Of Zohar 9 "that he may give me

(When everything is said and done)

The cave of Machpelah which he

Has, which is at the end of his

Field. Let him give it as it is

To me at the full price, as place

To bury my dead from my face."



With Ephron like a fawn before the light

Of Zohar where the mystics come recite

The tricks of centuries, the prophet calls

For some place clad in peace and with stone walls

To bury Sarah. Out of death the morning

Enchantment rises with its mists adorning

Departed soul of Sarah. Let men weep.

She lies at rest who stirred the wounded deep

Of man's imagination. Shallow soul,

But dear, poor Sarah had no other goal

But son and grave. Her golden trinkets graced

A skin-deep beauty, now all but effaced.

Beloved, I bless the prophet out of duty,

But of my own will bless his wife's lost beauty.



10 Now Ephron lived among the sons

Of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite

Replied to Abraham who shuns

Not any sons of Heth in sight,

Within the city gate where pacts

Are made, and said 11 "Nothing distracts,

Dear sir, me giving you the field,

The cave that's in it, I will yield

It all to you in presence of

The people of my own I love,

I give it to you, bury then

Your dead wife!" 12 Abraham then when

He heard that bowed himself before

The people of the land, 13 put oar

To Ephron in their hearing, saying

"If you will give it, please hear me.

I'll give you money without staying

As price for the field, take from me,

And I shall bury my dead there."

14 And Ephron answered Abraham,

And said to him, 15 "Dear sir, beware

The land is worth four hundred drachm

In silver shekels. What is that

Twixt you and me? Bury madam."



I am a stranger in this land, indeed,

In every land, the sons of Heth proceed

To live their lives of ownership. The streets

Of towns and villages, squares where one meets

A varied, shining throng, are filled to flowing.

Their food and pleasure on the margins growing

Stop breath for beauty, my Beloved, and bare

The leaf and blossom and the fruit. I swear

That beauty covers all things. I see You

Peer out from eyes of strangers, almost raise

A shout of greeting and run to embrace,

And then see that You fail to see, You do,

You do not recognize me, do not know,

Beloved, I see it in the eyes that go.



16 And Abraham heard Ephron's word,

And Abraham weighed out the cured

In silver for Ephron which he

Had named in hearing of the free

Men of Heth, four hundred shekels

Of silver, in the clienteles

Of merchants' favoured currency.

17 The field of Ephron which was in

Machpelah, east of Mamre, cave

And field and all the trees therein,

And all the borders of the place

Were deeded to him and with grace,

18 To Abraham as a possession

In presence of the sons of Heth,

Before the elders all in session

At city gate, for Sarah's death.

19 After this, Abraham buried

His wife Sarah in cave agreed

Upon within the field that is

In Machpelah, the one that is

To east of Mamre that is called

Hebron in Canaan. 20 And the walled

Field and the cave that is in it

Were given to Abraham by writ

From the generous sons of Heth

As place for burial at death.



Four hundred shekels weighed out clear and free

In silver cold and bright that wonderfully

Lay glinting in the sun: How soon does tarnish

Make black the brightest coin! No magic varnish

Can stay the valiant course of time, no rent

Can make a house seem quite so permanent

As does the tomb. The patriarch had gone

A weary way from year to year from dawn

Of hope to dimming of the light without

An inch of sand to call his own. No place

For living man to dwell and leave a trace

Was his. And now the only land he owns

Is cave to shut upon dead flesh and bones.

Beloved, man's life is but a war with doubt.