Poetry

Ode to Rizpah

For having the courage to stand
when all was lost.
I admire your strength
to stand in the face
of something you couldn't understand,
and the utter senselessness
of being punished for a crime
you didn't commit.

You ached with the pain
that only a mother knows.
alone...
You didn't let go.
And when they hung your hopes
and your dreams out to dry
on the branches of a dead tree,
and you saw all
your crystal mountains
and golden tapestries
crushed...
In one blow,
and they left you nothing,
(Where would you stand when your world was gone?)
They pulled it out from under you.

It was over,
and you knew it:
But you didn't give up,
and you didn't go away.

Did you count the stars
at night,
as you slept under them
wondering which ones they were,
and if they were
still watching you?

Did you feel fear
gnaw at you
from the inside out
as you faced lions
with only a stick
for a club.

Did you think of them
when you drank rain
from a piece of sackcloth?

Nobody touched them...
Your stars,
Your dreams,
You could not save them
from death,
But neither would you
let them be forgotten.

I'm sure they know how much
you love them.

Others learned of your struggle
and admiring your integrity
they came and took them down.

And buried your fears
and your pain with them.

And then and only then
did He send rain.

Rachel Fox