Haiku of survival
Time’s dust has settled,
Joseph has been forgotten.
They are guests no more.
Israel’s children
have prospered in Egypt land;
but now they are feared.
Israel’s children
are made slaves. They are oppressed,
and forced to labour.
Their lives are bitter,
they are treated brutally;
there is no relief.
Final solution
number one: kill all the boys
as soon as they’re born.
The midwives resist.
They explain: Hebrew women
don’t wait for midwives.
Throw them in the Nile,
those baby boys! But the girls,
you can let them live.
A boy-child was born.
His mother kept him hidden.
Three months. Too big now.
Made a reed basket,
floated it in the river.
His sister kept watch.
Coming down to bathe,
Pharaoh’s daughter saw the boat.
Her maid drew it in.
Surprise! It’s a boy!
You’ll need a nurse, said sister.
Can you find me one?
The mother was paid.
She nursed him. When he had grown,
took him to the court.
The princess raised him
as her son, named him Moses:
drawn from the water.
© Ken Rookes 2023
Ordinary Sunday 21Year A. I am focusing on the Old Testament, the story of how the Hebrews became slaves in Egypt, and how the infant Moses survived in Exodus chapter 1. For poetic reflections on the Gospel for this Sunday check the archives for August 2020, 2017, and 2014. For 2020 click here
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