This week I read the story of Abraham and Isaac and was confronted with its difficulty again. Sometimes poetry finds a dwelling place in the midst of a tangle, so I’ve looked around for an Abraham and Isaac poem.
I liked this poem from Abraham’s perspective, by Fr. Kilian McDonnell, though it violates the limits of the story by giving Abraham knowledge of Christ’s future sacrifice. This one by Wilfred Owen converts the story into a poem about war.
Madeleine L’Engle’s A Cry Like a Bell includes four poems about the story, one each from the perspectives of Abraham, Isaac, Sarah, and the ram caught in the bushes. I choose the one about Sarah to offer today. Sarah is such an important figure in some episodes, but she’s not included in this one. This poem imagines how she might have felt.
Sarah: before Mount Moriah
Like a small mouse
I am being played with.
Pushed around, sent from home,
passed off as a sister,
free to be the sport of others
(nobody asked me).
Nobody asked if I wanted
to leave home and all my friends
(the cat never asks the mouse).
Would my womb have filled
if we had stayed where we were
instead of following strange promises?
My maid, giving my husband a child for me,
then made mock of me.
So when the angel came
announcing — promising –
a child in my womb long dry
what could I do but laugh?
And then warmth came again, and fullness,
and my child was born,
my laughter, my joy.…
Are you laughing at my pain
as I watch the child and his father
climb the mountain?
Am I no more than a mouse
to be played with?I am a woman.
You — father-God –
have yet to learn
what it is to be a mother,and so, perhaps, have I.
And if you give me back my laughter again,
then, together we can learn
and I will say — oh, I will sing! –
that you have regarded the lowliness
of your handmaiden.
Read the poem in its entirety here. Does it project a 20th-century mindset on Sarah? I’m not sure.
What I like:
- cat and mouse motif
- she tries to bargain with the Almighty — as many in these stories do
- the last lines look forward to Mary (”handmaiden”) but without giving Sarah that knowledge
- hope: she doesn’t despair
- “and so, perhaps, have I” of the last stanza — both humble and profound.
Poetry Friday is at Picture Book of the Day.
Thanks for sharing! I’m a huge L’Engle fan. Mostly of her fiction, though I’ve read most of her nonfiction, too, and have her poetry books. I most enjoy how she focuses on the humanity of a person, the particular emotions and situations that reveal their humanness. I haven’t read either poetry book for a long time. Maybe time to pull them off the shelf:>)
[...] 5. Stacey from Two Writing Teachers 6. Sara Lewis Holmes (Hinged Double Sonnet by Sean Nevin) 7. Janet (Madeleine L’Engle’s “Sarah: before Mount Moriah”) 8. Laura Salas (Shocking) 9. Laura Salas (15 Words or Less: My Eye) 10. Shelf Elf (Alley Cat) [...]
Thanks for sharing this, Janet. You’re right — the cat and mouse motif is novel and effective. I don’t know much of L’Engle’s poetry, but now you’ve whetted my appetite for more.
The story of Abraham and Isaac is at the center of the Jewish High Holy Days – ancient rabbinical interpretations include the notion that God never intended for the sacrifice to be truly made, as proved by the fortuitous appearance of the ram, and that the story was there to serve as an example to other faiths (who did believe in human sacrifice) that such a sacrifice was actually unconscionable and could not be condoned by a loving God.
Loved the poem choice, and for the reasons you stated.
What a powerful poem! I haven’t read her poetry, but I sure will now! Thanks for sharing this one.
M. L’Engle’s Walking on Water is one of my all time favorite books. I haven’t spent as much time with her poetry, but this one is beautiful in its directness and the intimacy of the conversation between God and Sarah. Thanks for this choice.
I am another fan of L’Engle. I remember reading this poem and loving it years ago. I really like how she gives a realistic woman’s perspective that I just don’t find in my English Bible. We need more women poets to untangle that in all the stories. I am confident that God is more than Father and the Spirit does have a mother’s voice too.