GENESIS 21 - THE BELOVED AND I

Genesis 21

1 And YHWH visited Sarah as

He had said, and YHWH truly has

Done for Sarah as He had spoken.

2 Sarah conceived, no promise broken,

And bore to Abraham a son

In his old age, the set time done

Which Ælohim had promised him.



Who knows what Sarah had been up to while

She was in court of king with rankle file?

Abimelech indeed may have been shy

To touch the lady as she’s passing by,

But what’s to say her barrenness was changed

To fruitfulness by younger courtiers ranged?

The miracle may not be more than that

A younger rod rose to occasion’s fat.

If she would keep her virtue and good name,

She should have kept herself out of harm’s game.

But You, Beloved, come to the rescue fast

Of every virgin birth, no stone to cast,

And claim for Yourself only victory

In saying “Be!” And so the soul’s set free.



3 And Abraham did call the name

Of his son who was born to him,

Whom Sarah bore him without shame,

Isaac. 4 Then Abraham recalled

The pact and circumcised his son

Isaac when eight days had been run,

As Ælohim commanded him.



The first involuntary circumcision,

Unless protesting servants lacked the vision,

Made Isaac son of Abraham. I wonder

If he complained for being cut asunder,

As some did later when the Greeks thought better

Of flaunting all in gymnast chain and fetter,

And so they stretched their foreskins out again.

Not so with Isaac, man among the men.

What scrappy things we humans choose to fight on,

A piece of pork or die, run naked right on

The main street of Jerusalem, or cut

The hair or beard in such and such a rut.

Men heat themselves for and against this practice

Even now. Beloved, give me slice of cactus.



5 When Abraham was one hundred

Years old his son Isaac was bred.

6 And Sarah said "Ælohim has

Made me to laugh, and as well as

All who hear." 7 And she also said

"Who would have said to Abraham

That Sarah'd be pushing a pram?

For I have borne a son in his

Old age." 8 So the child grew, as is,

Was weaned. And Abraham made feast

On the same day that Isaac ceased

To suckle, was weaned from his dam.



The greatest of temptations in this world

Is that before which Sarah doubtless curled.

It is believing that no thing can come

As a surprise, that all things are clear sum

Of what is known, and drab, and failing grey.

The fact is that the sun of each new day

Arises on surprises, expectations

Are almost always like somnambulations,

Imaginations. But reality

Is full of unsought possibility.

And Sarah might have not had so much grief

If she had doubted more grounded belief.

You do, Belovèd, what You do and not

What women and old men were taught and thought.



9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar

The Egyptian, whom she had borne

To Abraham, and it did plague her

To see him scoffing him to scorn.

10 Therefore she said to Abraham,

"Cast out this woman and the ham

She calls a son, for he, son of

This bondwoman shall not be heir

With my son, Isaac, whom I love."

11 The matter did not appear fair

To Abraham, who loved his son.

12 But Ælohim told Abraham,

"Do not fret for the thing that's done,

Nor for the lad nor for the lamb,

Your bondwife, hear what Sarah says,

Isaac truly shall wear the fez

And give birth to your descendants.

13 "Yet I too shall greatly enhance

The nation the bondwoman's son

Shall sire, since he's your number one."



Displeasing in the sight of Abraham

It may have been, in that I doubt no scam.

But what about his wife named Hagar, she

Was thrown out on her ear and had to be

A bitter sort for that. Was not the prophet

Concerned for Hagar too when she got off it?

Beloved, a son is one thing, so's a daughter.

But I cannot believe he quite forgot her.

He split his household, true, and so his heart

Was split forever for that jealous part.

If Sarah's plaint was founded, still the cure

Was only in externals, never sure.

Whatever comes or may there is no way

To split my heart from Yours by night or day.



14 So Abraham rose early in

The morning, and took bread and skin

Of water, and put on her shoulder,

He gave it to Hagar and bolder,

The boy, and sent them both away.

Then she departed on her way

And wandered in the wilderness

Of Beersheba. 15 The water less

And less inside the skin was soon

Used up, and at the hottest noon

She put the boy beneath a shrub.

16 Then she went and sat in the scrub

Across from him as far as bow

Might shoot an arrow, and said low

To herself, "Let me not see how

The boy will die." Beneath the bough

She sat across from where he slept

And lifted up her voice and wept.



The vale of Baca, so it's called in Psalm

Where Ishmael's and his mother Hagar's balm

Was not so easy come by. Vale of Baca,

The Vale of Weeping, now turned into Mecca,

Poor, blind, commercial Mecca, so much like

Her sister old Jerusalem, a hike

To northward. There the boy with Hagar wept

And waited, drank, rejoiced and at last slept.

That valley enters many dreams to sweep

The memory awake with all its deep,

Dark longings. Hagar wept that she was there,

And since that day millions have not the fare

To trek a pilgrimage commemorating

Her sorrow and, Beloved, her reinstating.



17 And Ælohim heard the lad's voice.

Ælohim's Angel saw her choice,

And called to Hagar out of heaven,

And asked her without sour or leaven,

"What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for

Ælohim hears the lad's tenor

There where he is. 18 "Get up and lift

The lad and hold him like a gift,

For I shall make him a great nation."

19 Then Ælohim opened her eyes,

She saw a well in her elation

And went and filled to her surprise

The skin with water, gave the lad

A drink of the water she had.

20 So Ælohim was with the lad,

In the desert he lived and grew,

Became an archer without crew.

21 The wilderness of Paran was

His home. His mother, as one does,

Looked for a wife for him and got

One from Egypt where she was bought.



A water bottle and a loaf of bread

I take from You, Beloved, when all is said

And set out on the morning for the road,

The desert road that must be my abode.

When I have taken all provisions that

You gave me, comes a time when I have sat

Bereft beneath the sparsely shading bush,

Entangled in a world of pull and push,

No bread, and empty bottle on my shoulder.

Belovèd, at this moment make me bolder

To reach beyond the daily portion's fare

And know that in the desert You are there.

Though I have eat and drunk the heavenly tract,

I turn from You to You to be exact.



22 And it happened that at that time

Abimelech, partner in crime

Phichol, Commander of his forces,

Told Abraham, without remorses,

"Ælohim is with you in all

You do. 23 "Now therefore, swear by all

And Ælohim that you will not

Deal falsely with me, nor begot

By me, nor my posterity,

But with the kindness that you see

That I have done to you, you will

Do to me, to the land fulfil

The kindness you have met with here."

24 And Abraham said "I will swear."

25 Then Abraham rebuked the king

Abimelech because a spring

Of his that he had dug hard squeezed

Abimelech's servants had seized.



I too live in the shadow of a well

That I did not dig, but with pick and spell

Was dug before my father had been born.

So I come to another's well forsworn.

To find its fragrant waters I left home

And house, lifted my baggage, came to roam

To this one well. I drink it when I wake

And just before I sleep, at noon I take

Deep draughts, and every time between I find

My thirst renews and quenches in that vined

And lilac-ed spring. Beloved, my thirst renews

Not only with the morning and the dews,

But in the intervals that I forget

Your presence with and in me since we met.



26 Abimelech said "I don't know

Who did this thing, you did not show

Me this before, and just today

I heard the thing." 27 So in his way

Abraham took oxen and sheep,

Gave to Abimelech to keep,

And both of them made covenant.

28 And Abraham was adamant

And set seven ewe lambs of the flock

By themselves. 29 Then the king took stock,

Abimelech asked Abraham,

"What means this pile of female lamb

Seven in number you have set

By themselves?" 30 And he said "I let

You take seven ewe lambs from my hand,

To be a witness that my hand

Has dug this well." 31 Therefore he called

That place Beersheba, unappalled

That both of them swore an oath there.

32 Beersheba means they stopped to swear.

Abimelech and Phichol rose,

Commander of his army, chose

To go back to the Philistines.

To further there their own designs.

33 Then he planted a tamarisk

In Beersheba, and there was brisk

To call the name YHWH El Olam,

34 And Abraham stayed under palm

And in the land of Philistines

For many days in his confines.



By seven ewe lambs Abraham did swear

The well was dug by him both fair and square.

By seven lambs of guidance You came late

To covenant Your will and human fate.

The water springing up in life is brought

In charger of green malachite well-sought

By hand of Ali and his blessèd sons

As far as daylight on the heavens runs.

The sevens come again though rarely seen

To whirl upon the pedestals of green,

And spark the sacrifices towards the sky

Whence sacrificial lambs lie down to die.

So hidden Ismail gives his place to Moses
And both know what another just supposes.