Who's first?

Haiku of sibling rivalry

Rebeckah’s pregnant!

After all these years, Isaac’s

prayers have been answered!

Twins! The two children

fight it out within the womb.

Rebeckah’s anxious.

They are two nations,

says the Lord. The elder one

will serve the younger.

A time to be born.

The first boy was red, hairy.

They named him Esau.

The second emerged,

hand upon his brother’s heel.

They named him Jacob.

Esau the hunter,

loved by his dad; Jake, quiet

loved by Rebeckah.

Let me have some stew,

said Esau. Sure, said Jacob;

Sell me your birthright.

I’m starving to death,

what’s the use of my birthright?

Swear to me! I swear.

Trading his birthright

Esau ate the stew with bread,

and went on his way.

Short term benefit

or some vague future increase;

what would be my choice?

© Ken Rookes 2023

Birthright

Birthright

I typed “birthright”

into my search engine.

It took me straight to ebay.

There were hundreds of listings.

I restricted myself to auctions

that were ending over the next 24 hours.

Of all the varieties for sale only a couple

involved property, wealth and power;

these are much  in demand,

people hang on to them.

I clicked on a big purple one with gold trim.

The bids were coming in at a fast rate;

my refresh button was unable to keep pace.

For a moment I was tempted.

There were birthrights of many sizes and shapes;

green and blue, mostly.

Quite a few were to do with

truth, courage, generosity and love.

I clicked on one; it was small,

but strangely beautiful. The Starting bid was $13.65,

and there were no current bidders.

“Why not?” I asked myself, and typed in $15.00.

My cursor hovered over the Place bid button,

and then I remembered that I already have one;

back home, in a cardboard box

on a high shelf in the guest room wardrobe.

I’m pretty sure it’s still there.

© Ken Rookes 2014