gershon hepner - hand in hand

They climbed the mountain, hand in hand,
the father and his only boy;
the father, silent, gave no hint
that doom of death would soon destroy
this son as nearly once another,
whom he had almost caused to die,
this young boy’s Doppelgänger, brother,
expelled from Sarah’s evil eye,
unless a miracle occurred
and God, relenting, change His mind.
But though the father said no word
the boy thought he could understand––
though in the distance was a ram
whose horns were in a thicket caught––
that he was meant to be the lamb
his father clearly had not brought.
Remaining dumb, he did not ask
if killing children could be right;
his father’s love became his task
with all his heart and soul and might,
and that’s why God said: “Let him live! ”
when they together reached the height.
He never asked him to forgive
this cruel and arbitrary fright,
and Sarah, who expected that
disaster would occur, had sighed
when hearing God’s most cruel fiat,
and sat alone and, waiting, died,
for Abraham had never held
her hand as he held Isaac’s then,
like Ishmael her hope expelled
in God, the tyrant of good men.

11/20/98,6/14/06

gershon hepner

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hand-in-hand-3/