Dan Lukiv

Now It Came About in the Days When the Judges: poetry Dan Lukiv

An excerpt, a poem based on chapter one of Ruth // Naomi, wife of dead Elimelech, / In the days of 12 saviours, you / Escaped drought and famine / In Moab, but not widowhood, / Nor did you find comfort in the / Strength of Mahlon, the one who / Grows weak, nor in Chilion, the / One failing. O your buried sons! / Naomi-"Pleasantness" sang your / Hebrew root, but Mara- / "O bitterness" you became. Cymbals / Clashed out your consonants. History / Records your empty womb / And ripe humiliation, / But the loving-kindness of your God / Will wrap you in Ruth's heart / And give you, like the widow of / Zarephath, a better place in time.