A cruel story

 

Haiku to disturb and reassure

Sarah the jealous,

 

feels threatened by her rival;

 

slave woman, Hagar.

Hagar’s Ishmael

 

is Abraham’s first-born son,

 

fruit of agéd loins.

Sarah’s son, Isaac,

 

shall remain the only heir;

 

Ishmael must go!

 

 

A cruel story:

 

even God is complicit.

 

The child is dismissed.

 

 

Dismissed with water,

 

bread. The water gone, the child

 

is laid in the shade.

 

 

Ishmael’s mother

 

calls to God: Don’t make me watch

 

as death takes my son!

God sends an angel.

 

Do not weep or be afraid

 

God hears the child’s cries.

 

 

Take your son, I’ll make

 

him a great nation. Look, see;

 

I give you water!

The promise was kept.

 

God blessed him as he grew strong

 

in the wilderness.

© Ken Rookes 2023