Moses

As you approach your mountain bed do you dream
of Egypt? Or seek traces of your long journey
in these moments before God lays you down like Isaac
at Moriah and takes away your breathing?

Do you remember Sinai, where you were sorely tried?
Or seek evidence that the lengthy sojourn in Pharoah’s
court was not of your imagining? Do you feel the sea tearing
in half? Or remember those who dared to flee into its breach?

Though you watch the others cross a river that is beyond you,
can your companions save you—Bush of Burning who is not
consumed? Mountain of the Stone Tablets?
Do you lie back upon your rocky bed, close your eyes

and feel the cool kiss of God upon your lips?
And in that instant feel your soul drawn out of your body
like a hair drawn out of milk, your sons
dispersed like seeds, leaving no trace nor burial place?

—Myra Sklarew