Benediction

 

God be with you ‘til we meet again

Kind of a Mizpah blessing,

Which I learned about in Sunday School

Was a mixed bag of salutations

The Lord watch between me and thee

While we are absent,

One from the other

I used to hear that at the end of church

It sounded nice

But it seems that Abraham and Lot

Were suspicious of each other

 

So while each is away

The pledge is that their God

The one who called their family

Into a nation

Would keep the rivalries apart

Vouchsafed in

Something holy gelatinous

A barrier of angel-power with holdings

Kept on either side

Safe from interference

 

Abraham had struck quite the deal with

His nephew,

Giving Lot the choice

Of land and all assets available

But it could not work out

Maybe the legacy

That began when one brother killed another

Coursed into the current generation

The best becomes the worst

 

As it turns out,

Lot will run from fire

From the most prosperous of cities

Once his own

There will be salt

 

The child of Isaac

Will cheat a sibling out of inheritance

Drastic foibling

Deep crimes of humanity

Shall not escape,

When the better angels are released

From withholding

Someday break through,

Let loose in judgment

 

Until then, we shake hands

To show we hold no weapons

Forestalling sin that rushes through

Reduced into a spillway

For a time

For a day

For an hour

Quiet hour

 

C L Couch

 

 

By Marsyas, 07.04.2007, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1930787

Hera and Athena handshaking, late 5th century BC, Acropolis Museum, Athens

 

Genesis 31

 

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