GENESIS 13........THE BELOVED AND I

Genesis 13

1 Then Abram went up from Egypt,

He and his wife and all his script

And all he had, and Lot with him,

Up to the south, ship-shape and trim,

2 For Abram was most rich in stock,

In cattle, silver, gold and flock.

3 And he went on his journey from

The south so far until he'd come

To Bethel, to the place where he

Had pitched his tent at first, you see,

Between Ai and Bethel 4 where

He'd made the place to worship there

At first, and there he just the same,

Abram did so, call on YHWH's name.



As Abram called, Beloved, upon Your Name

When he left Egypt with his wealth and came

To Bethel, so may I seek resting place

Upon Your altar and turned toward Your face

Call on Your lovely names. Between the city

Of Ai and of Bethel, without pity

Then marching northward Abraham and Lot

There found a place to pitch their tents and got

A haven where to keep their livestock, gold

And silver. There too they found made of old

An altar consecrated to Your name,

There waiting silently until they came.

I seek my old forsaken altars where

I once repeated Your name to the air.



5 Lot too, who went with Abram, had

Flocks, herds and tents. 6 Now it was bad,

The land could not support them both,

That they might live together, growth

Of their possessions was so great

They could not both accommodate.

7 So there was clash between the men

That herded Abram's flock again

And those that herded Lot's livestock.

What made things worse of a dead-lock

Was Canaanite and Perizzite

Both in the land, put up a fight.

8 So Abram said to Lot, "Please let

There be no strife between as yet

Yourself and me, and those who herd

My flocks and yours, it is preferred

Since you and I are relatives.

9 "Is not the whole land that God gives

Before you? Let us separate,

If you go left, I'll hesitate

Not one minute to take the right.

Or if that way is in your sight

Then I'll go left." 10 And Lot lifted

His eyes and saw how well gifted

Lay all the plain of Jordan there,

It was well watered everywhere

(Before YHWH picked off Sodom and

Gomorrah) like YHWH's plot, like land

Of Egypt out toward Zoar's command.



How many eyes, Beloved, mistake the towers

Of Sodom and Gomorrah for the flowers

Of Paradise. I lift my eyes to seek

The blessing voice of Eden where You speak,

And see the rushing traffic, hear the din

Of market and of worship from within

The temples filled with peace and love and still

More idols than could in the desert fill

The Kaaba when the Prophet came to find

Its true heart to bestow on humankind.

The place most often sought to know You best

Is far more often where the idols rest.

Turn me, Beloved, away from Paradise

And watered plain, let desert ways suffice.



11 Then Lot chose for himself the plain

Of Jordan, all its luscious gain,

And journeyed east. And there they parted.

12 And Abram lived in Canaan, charted

Its land, and Lot lived on the plain,

In cities drenched in northern rain,

As far as Sodom pitched his tent.

13 But men of Sodom, as men went

Were wicked and exceedingly

Sinful against YHWH shamelessly.



The land I choose makes hardly difference now,

And Sodom would seem heaven anyhow

Compared with wealth of wickedness now told.

Take London, for example, where the bold

And insensate find every ruse of art

And beauty to cover their hidden part

In the destruction of the world and those

Who try to live and die on pea and rose.

Do not succumb, I tell myself and You,

But seek out dwelling in the treed and true,

And since all human institutions fare

No better than Gomorrah, I look where

The water is the best, since water's rare,

Yet still is found in Sodom's sun and glare.



14 Then YHWH spoke after Lot had gone

To Abram, said "Lift your eyes on

The place where you are, north and south,

Toward east and west, despite the drouth,

15 "For all the land you see I give

To you and yours, a place to live

Forever. 16 "And I'll make your seed

More than the dust of earth indeed,

If one could count it then they might

Count your descendants in their sight.



Though I may not be child of Abraham,

(My family history's opaque as a clam),

I ought to count it glory that I must

Be treated in this world like common dust.

The promise that You made to Abram then

Was not the common one made to sweet men,

But most astonishing and it's no wonder

That Abram had to second-guess and blunder.

Though to be frank Your word was clear enough.

It's just that clarity is such strange stuff

To us who live our lives in this illusion

That even useless gold seems an effusion.

But Abram knew the truth that children are

The only wealth one has on barren star.



17 "Get up and walk the land, its length

And width, to you I give its strength."

18 Then Abram moved his tent, and went

And lived beneath the terebinth,

The trees of Mamre, which are in

Hebron, and built an altar in

That place to worship YHWH therein.



In Mamre's revelation, in the shade

Of terebinth or oak and one grass blade

I pitch my tent and raise a slender psalm

Above the scent of frankincense and balm.

I rise and walk and pitch my tent again

Till my life seems a whirling in the fen,

A whirling and a march across the floor

Of earth beneath a sky without a door.

Since I cannot climb to the gate of heaven

I joy to find You here on earth at seven

Days in the forty-nine, and breath to breath

Each day I walk the altar without death.

Beloved, I rise and walk the land You give,

And pitch my tent and prostrate while I live.