I love Abraham, that old weather-beaten

unwavering nomad; when God called to him,

no tender hand wedged time into his stay.

His faith erupted him into a way

far-off and strange. How many miles are there

from Ur to Haran? Where does Canaan lie,

or slow mysterious Egypt sit and wait?

How could he think his ancient thigh would bear

nations, or how consent that Isaac die,

with never an outcry or an anguished prayer?

I think, alas, how I manipulate

dates and decisions, pull apart the dark,

dally with doubts here and with counsels there,

take out old maps and stare.

Was there a call at all, my fears remark.

I cry out: Abraham, old nomad you,

are you my father? Come to me in pity.

Mine is a far and lonely journey too.

(Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers 66)

Abraham to kill him

Was distinctly told--

Isaac was an Urchin--

Abraham was old--

Not a hesitation--

Abraham complied--

Flattered by Obeisance

Tyranny demurred--

Isaac--to his children

Lived to tell the tale--

Moral--with a Mastiff

Manners may prevail.

(The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson 571-2)

"Take Your Only Son"

None guessed our nearness to the land of vision,

not even our two companions to the mount.

That you bore wood and I, by grave decision,

fire and a sword, they judged of small account.

Speech might leap wide to what were best unspoken

and so we plodded, silent, through the dust.

I turned my gaze lest the heart be twice broken

when innocence looked up to smile its trust.

O love far deeper than a lone begotten,

how grievingly I let your words be lost

when a shy question guessed I had forgotten

a thing so vital as the holocaust.

Hope may shout promise of reward unending

and faith buy bells to ring its gladness thrice,

but these do not preclude earth's tragic ending

and the heart shattered in its sacrifice.

Not beside Abram does my story set me.

I built the altar, laid the wood for flame.

I stayed my sword as long as duty let me,

and then alas, alas, no angel came.

(Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers 153)