JUBILEES CHAPTER 9 ~ 12

WEEK 19 JUBILEES 9

1 Ham divided among his sons,
And the first portion fell in tonnes
To Cush towards the east, and to
The west of him the land would do
For Mizraim, and to the west
Of him for Put some of the best,
And to the west of him upon
The sea for Canaan. 2 To Shem’s spawn
He also divided the share,
And the first portion, the most fair,
Fell to Elam and his sons there
To the east of the flowing stream
Of Tigris till it reach the beam
Of the east, the whole land that’s called
India, and upon the bald
Red Sea coast, and the waters of
Dedan, and all the hills above
Of Mebri and Ela, and all
The land of Susan and the haul
That is on the side of Pharnak
To the Red Sea as far as slack
Of the river Tina. 3 And to
Asshur fell the second of due
Portions: all the land of Asshur
And Nineveh and Shinar pure
And to India’s borderland,
And it ascends and skirts the band
Of the river. 4 To Arpachshad
Fell the third portion to make glad,
All the land of the Chaldees’ states
To the east of Euphrates’ rates,
To border on the Red Sea side,
And all the waters of the tide
Toward the desert close beside
The tongue of the sea which looks on
Egypt, all land of Lebanon
And Sanir and ‘Amana to
The border of Euphrates’ crew.
5 And to Aram there fell the fourth
Portion, all the land to come forth
From Mesopotamia’s coast
Between the Tigris and the boast
Of the Euphrates to the side
Of north of the Chaldeans’ pride
To the frontier of Asshur’s hills
And the land of ‘Arara’s rills.

Ham divided the earth in four for those
Four sons that came from him and who arose
To tread the earth from gate to gate in throes
Of ecstasy before Your name, Beloved.
Shem likewise split his heritage in four
To give to his sons at the dancing door,
With names, towns, rivers all to keep the score
While whirling on the sand with hand ungloved.
I too lift empty hands to find Your grace
As I turn day to day from trace to trace
To find oases in the desert race.
I too reach out to grasp the shining sum
Of mercy that from the high air has come
To kiss the earth where I am deaf and dumb.

6 And there fell to Lud the fifth portion,
The mountains of Asshur’s proportion
And all belonging to them till
It comes down to the Great Sea’s spill,
And till it reaches Asshur’s east
Which is his brother not the least.

Shem had a fifth son, to whom he gave power
To reach to Asshur in a blessed hour.
If there are four gates for the whirling high,
There are five books given to Moses nigh,
And five of Psalms, and five in Matthew’s rate
To make the Gospel plain, the meaning straight.
So blessedness goes further than the law,
And dancing to the tune You pipe in claw
Is not the end of human life and draw.
Beloved, I grasp at the five golden links
That come from Your oneness upon the rinks.
Your justice moves beyond law and reproves
The prophetless, unguided in their grooves
Till all return to that One Face in awe.

7 And Japheth also divided
The land of his inherited
Among his sons. 8 And the first plot
Fell to Gomer to the east lot
From the north side to Tina’s stream,
And in the north there came the dream
Of Magog all the inner parts
Of the north until it upstarts
To the sea of Me’at. 9 And to
Madai fell as his portion due
That he should possess from the west
Of his two brothers to invest
The islands, and to the coasts of
The islands. 10 And to Javan’s love
Fell the fourth portion every isle
And the islands which rank and file
Are towards the border of Lud’s land,
A portion for Javan’s whole band.

Japheth turns in four gates and is not moved
By jealousies or the sun’s heat that proved
A bait to war among the sons of Ham
And Shem until the time of Abraham.
It’s centuries before his flock grows great
Upon the battlefield to move in hate.
He fears nor ice nor snow, nor bears’ retreat.
There is no place forbidden to his feet.
I fly with father Japheth circling high
To look upon the islands where they vie
With sea for beauty and with sun for sheen.
Where there is love, there he and I are seen.
The rule is war and hate rise from a bed
Of love and beauty, so the warning’s said.

11 And to Tubal there fell at last
The fifth portion and unsurpassed
In middle of the tongue which comes
Towards the border of the sums
Of Lud and to the second tongue,
To the region beyond the sung
Second tongue and unto the third.
12 And to Meshech there fell the word
Of the sixth portion, all the flat
Region beyond where third tongue sat
Till it comes to east of Gadir.

The Gadir is a wall, in early time
To keep intruder out of growing thyme
And date palm round oasis sung in rhyme,
But here I wonder where the place is found.
The Gadir is a wall, in later days
To keep the lovely inside gates of praise
Where scents are warm with stupefying haze
Above the verdant fertile soil and ground.
Beloved, I seek the message of Gadir
And lay hold on the heart and hand of dear
Ali to find the blessing and the cheer
Of Your will sovereign before gate of gold.
I ride into the pilgrim camp as bold
And burning of heart as are others cold.

13 And for Tiras there fell sincere
The seventh portion, four great isles
In the middle of the sea’s smiles,
Which reach to the portion of Ham
[And the islands of Kamaturi
Came out by lot for the sons’ hurry
Of Arpachshad and for his dram].

Seven in all the veils come rushing down
To fill the windows of city and town
And shade the glade and thicket with the brown
And soft, blind knowing of all things’ renown.
So seven sons hold on to seven veils
And set out to earth’s bounds on their own trails
Until horizons swallow up their sails.
The curtains scintillating with their gold
And silver broiders crimson with the bold
Sun of the west protect my single life
From hand of those succeeding in their strife.
I settle by the hearth to hear their tales
While my soul wanders in the rising smoke,
A spark to find You, Beloved, where You spoke.

14 And thus the sons of Noah gave
Portions to their sons good or knave
In the presence of Noah their
Father, and he bound them to share
All by an oath, with curse on each
Who sought to seize the portion’s peach
Which had not fallen to his share.
15 And they all said “So be it fair,”
For themselves and their sons ever
Throughout their generations till
The day of judgement bring the bill,
On which YHWH Ælohim shall judge
Them with a sword and with a smudge
Of fire for all unclean and ill
Of their errors, wherewith they fill
The earth with wickedness and gross
Uncleanness, fornication’s dose
And sin on every plain and hill.

Judge me not for my lust, Beloved, since You
Created lust to keep coming in view
The generations of the world in due.
Judge me not for my violence since it
Is product of my wisdom and my wit
In knowing I am divine in my fit.
Judge me not for my greed, Beloved, since greed
Maintains the borders of each field in seed
And fills the earth with every human need.
But judge me that my lust and violence
And greed are turned to other signs and cents
Than toward You where my love only relents.
Beloved, make strong my lust and cruelty
To rush in greed to You and thus be free.

JUBILEES 10

1 And in this jubilee’s third week [1583 A.M.]
The unclean demons start to seek
To lead astray Noah’s sons’ spawn,
And make them err from dark to dawn.
2 And the sons of Noah came to
Noah their father telling true
What the demons were doing to
Their children leading astray and
Blinding and slaying his sons’ sons.
3 He prayed before YHWH’s benisons,
His God, and said “God of the spirit
Of all flesh, who have shown or near it
Mercy unto me and saved me
And my sons from the waters’ spree
Of the flood, and have not caused me
To perish as You did the sons
Of perdition and other ones,
For Your grace has been great toward
Me, and has been great on the sward
Your loving mercy to my soul,
Let Your grace be lifted, extol
Upon my sons, and let not those
Wicked spirits on them who rose
Rule over them, lest they destroy
Them from the earth that they enjoy.

As I draw near to You, Beloved, I see
More and more things in the earth about me
That seem to be the decoration of
My own heart and the object of my love.
My heart encloses the dark firs above
My windowed soul, and turns to take the track
Of hare at my doorstep behind my back
Into the fold of me. I faithfully
Whirl in the darkened place of winter’s race
And everywhere I turn I find Your face
Enthroned upon the granite stool that grows
Up in my heart. If demons fill the throes
Of my world with their stinging counterpart,
Lend them their flight before Your winging dart.

4 “But bless me and my sons, that we
May increase and multiply free
And fill the earth to its degree.
5 “And You know how Your Watchers, and
The fathers of these spirits planned,
Acted in my day: and as for
These spirits which are living store,
Imprison them and hold them fast
In condemnation’s place at last,
And let them not bring destruction
On your servant’s daughter and son,
My God, for these are malignant,
And created as sycophant.

Your prophet and divine guide prays a prayer
And with it chains the dragons in their lair,
And overwhelms the darkness with the light.
And yet the winter darkness in my plight
Is like a tender friend. We do not fight.
Moss covers the stones that hide ancient lore
Of Watchers’ sons who once read up the score,
But now are long since banned to their own shore.
Yet their tales of magic and herbal store
Still strike a chord resounding in the soul
Of humans out to find and get the goal.
The earth groans and uprising sends them out
To deal death on the people round about.
Listen once more to Noah’s prayer and stout.

6 “And let them not rule over those
Spirits of the living You chose,
For You alone can exercise
Dominion over them in size.
And let them not have power upon
The sons of the righteous in spawn
From henceforth and for evermore.”
7 And YHWH our God commanded store
To bind them all. 8 And for the chief
Of the spirits, Mastema’s grief,
Came and said “Lord, Creator, let
Some of them stay before me set,
And let them hearken to my voice,
And do all I shall say for choice,
For if some are not left to me,
I shall not be able freely
To execute my power of will
On sons of men, for these are still
For corruption, leading astray
Before my judgment mankind’s way,
For great indeed is wickedness
Of the sons of men whom You bless.”
9 And He said “Let the tenth part stay
Before him, and let nine parts fall
Into the condemnation hall.”

You hear the chief of demons’ prayer and so,
Beloved, hear mine and bless me where I show
Weakness to do Your will, even to know.
One in ten of the evil ones still roam
The glades and streets that humankind calls home,
And one in ten still capture hearts and powers
To work destruction on the goodly flowers.
Beloved, I flee the lukewarm, tight morass
And rush into the dry and whispering grass
To find, Beloved, the footsteps where You pass.
Though nine in ten are throttled in abode
Of silence, my heart still lifts up a load
Of wrong for You to brush away with song.
I sing Your name and praises all day long.

10 And one of us He commanded
That we should teach Noah and bid
Of all their medicines, for He
Knew they would not walk uprightly,
Nor strive in righteousness. 11 And we
Did according to all His words:
All the malignant evil birds
We bound in condemnation’s thrall
12 And a tenth part of them in stall
We left that they might be subject
Before Satan on earth’s elect.

The place of the accuser is defined
And limited with most of him confined.
If it were not so, all men should be fair
And live rejoicing in the lawful air.
The human heart is not deceitful where
It is set free from blindness and decree.
The human soul is dwelling place and free
Of Your own constant knowing what You are,
Creator of the world and sun and star.
Without accuser human minds return
Again and ever to the flame to burn
In love and praise to Your name, and to spurn
The evil way of veils and darknesses.
I turn within where Your love always is.

And we explained to Noah all
The medicines of their ills’ call,
Together with their seductions,
How he might heal them and their buns
With herbs of the earth. 13 Noah wrote
Down all things in a book to tote
As we instructed him on each
Kind of medicine that’s in reach.
Thus the evil spirits were kept
From hurting sons of Noah ept.

I thank You, my Beloved, that in the way
Of forest and meadow there is a ray
Of healing for the soul and body done
To illness by the evil on the run.
What watcher’s son has left the words allowed
To help the human hand and wailing crowd
Works by Your will above the thickened cloud
That shines with rainbows round a holy hill.
To trace the magic meadow is Your will.
And so I take a dibble stick to fill
A basket with a train of spirit friends
Whose fragrant breath the human heart defends.
The incense of the spouting, dank recess
In secret rises to befriend, caress.

14 And he gave all that he had written
To Shem, his eldest son unsmitten,
For he loved him exceedingly
Above all the sons on his tree.
15 And Noah slept with his fathers,
And was buried on Mount Lubar’s
In the land of Ararat. 16 Nine
Hundred and fifty years in fine
He finished in his life, nineteen
Jubilees and two weeks and keen
And five years. [1659 A.M.] 17 And in his life on
Earth he excelled all human spawn
Save Enoch for his righteousness,
Wherein he was perfect to bless.

Noah and Enoch still show me the way
To righteousness, despite my mind to play.
Though Noah sleeps and Enoch makes his stay
In the celestial secrets of a day,
I find the words of both guiding my steps
Along the corridors that know their reps.
Beloved, bless Enoch on his daily round
And Noah as he sleeps beneath the ground,
And in Your blessing of the prophet sound
Remember me too where I may be found.
Grant me the crown above my creeping lust,
And turn my greed and cruelty to dust,
And I shall live to praise Your name as must
All who return to Your face with a crust.

For Enoch’s office was ordained
For a witness to the maintained
Generations of all the world,
So he should recount the unfurled
Deeds of generation unto
Generation, till the day due
Of judgement. 18 In the thirty-third
Jubilee, in the first year’s word [1577 A.M.]
In second week, Peleg took wife,
Whose name was Lomna without strife
The daughter of Sina’ar, and
She bore to him a son in hand
In the fourth year come of this week, [1580 A.M.]
And he called his name Reu the meek,
For he said ‘Indeed humankind
Have become evil through the mind
Of wickedness to build themselves
A city and a tower for elves
In the land of Shinar.’ 19 For they
Departed from Ararat’s way
Eastward to Shinar, for in his
Days they built the city, that is,
And the tower, saying “Go to, let
Us ascend by it for to get
Into heaven.” 20 And they began
To build, and in the fourth week’s ban
They made brick with fire, and the bricks
Served them for stone, and clay for sticks
With which they cemented them fast
Together was asphalt which last
Comes out of the sea, and out of
The fountains of water to shove
In the land of Shinar. 21 And they
Built it: forty and three years’ day [1645-1688 A.M.]
They were a-building it, as wide
As two hundred and three bricks’ side,
And the height of a brick was one
Third of its length, its height when done
Came to five thousand four hundred
Thirty-three cubits and two palms,
And the extent of one wall read
Was thirteen stadia without qualms
And of the other thirty more
Stadia. 22 And YHWH our God in store
Said to us, “Indeed, they are one
People, and look what they have done,
And now nothing will keep them from
Doing what they intend in sum.

Lomna’s son saw how the tower should be built
And clucked in disgust for the settling silt,
Faithful to the tune that his mother taught,
That righteousness and safety are not bought,
But earned with love and care upon the soil,
And stored up over years of faithful toil.
One cannot climb the stairs to heaven to find
A refuge from the awful and the blind.
The thin and lawful air, though unconfined,
Is not the place of truth, but soil beneath
The foot of him who brings freshly a wreath
To Eden’s gate and, struck through by the sword
Turning in hand of cherubim adored,
Finds in You on earth the eternal Lord.

Go to, let us go down and mix
Their language, that they may not fix
An understanding on the speech
Of one another beyond reach,
And they may be dispersed into
Cities and nations, what they do
Will not remain one purpose true,
Until the day of judgement due.”
23 And YHWH descended, and we came
With Him to see the city’s blame
And the tower which children of men
Had built. 24 And he confounded then
Their language, and they could no more
Understand one another’s store
Of speech, and they ceased then to build
The city and the tower spilled.
25 For this reason the whole land of
Shinar is called Babel for love,
Because YHWH there confounded all
The language of humankind’s stall,
And from there they were dispersed all
Into their cities, each one by
His language and his nation’s cry.

With twenty tongues, Beloved, I praise Your name,
And in all languages I praise the same.
The perfect, crystal of eternal speech
You shattered, scattered like sand on the beach,
To make the thousands of languages that
Bless earth today with wisdom, light and fat.
But above all I come each day to pray
In that speech that made up creation’s day,
And take upon my tongue the sacred word
That calls to being hare and mouse and bird.
The rustling of the sacred law commends
Your speech to both my enemies and friends
Who sigh upon the air invisibly,
Their wings outspread and barely grazing me.

26 And YHWH sent a mighty wind on
The tower and overthrew it gone
Upon the earth, and indeed it
Was between Asshur and the fit
Babylon in land of Shinar,
And they called its name ‘Overthrow’.
27 In the fourth week in the first row
Year [1688 A.M.] in the start and in the star
Of it in the thirty-fourth free
Jubilee, they went out sadly
From the land of Shinar to be.
28 And Ham and his sons went into
The land in which he had his pew,
Which he acquired to be his plot
In the land of the south as taught.

Ham and his sons remain in hesitation
To see what would become of Shinar’s nation,
And at its overthrow at last they left
To find the hot lands which to them were cleft.
The tower of Shinar may be folded now
In hidden sands unknown to human brow,
But the spirit to rise in glass and steel
Is still biting the human heart and heel.
What wind or earthquake unleashed by the reel
Of Mastema upon the quaking heads
Of humankind a-sleeping in their beds
Is something that since then we do not fail
To know to our own hurt and with a wail.
Beloved, keep the ship on an even keel.

29 And Canaan saw Lebanon’s land
To the river of Egypt’s strand,
That it was very good, and he
Did not go into the land’s fee
Of his inheritance to west
Of the sea, and he lived in best
Of the land of Lebanon, east
And westward from the border pieced
Of Jordan and the sea’s frontier.
30 And Ham, his father without fear,
And Cush and Mizraim his brothers
Said to him, “You have settled others’
Land which is not yours, and which did
Not fall to us by lot as bid:
Do not do so, for if you do,
You and your sons will fall in crew
In the land and be accursed through
Sedition, by sedition you
Have settled, and by sedition
Will your children fall to a son,
And you’ll be rooted out for ever.
31 “Do not live thinking you are clever
In the dwelling of Shem, to Shem
And to his sons it came to them
By their lot. 32 “Cursed are you, and cursed
Shall you be beyond all the worst
Sons of Noah, by the curse by
Which we bound ourselves, the oath by
Which in the holy judge’s eye
We bound ourselves in presence of
Noah our father and his love.”

You do not accept conquest of the land
Nor even settling without Your command.
Then what has humankind done in the earth
In all its peregrinations for worth?
Perhaps the older settlement was wise
And done according to Your kindly eyes,
But what about the overrunning of
The European continent with shove,
And then their launching out to seek their fate
Upon the whole world, on both small and great?
In my veins runs the blood of many nations,
So where may I stand to find my own stations?
Beloved, bereaved is all the world in what
Canaan started to feed his growing gut.

And he did not listen to them,
33 But lived in Lebanon’s land’s hem
From Hamath to the entering of
Egypt, he and his sons above
To this day. 34 And for this reason
That land is also named Canaan.
35 And Japheth and his sons went out
Towards the sea and lived about
In the land of their portion, and
Madai saw the land of sea-sand
And it did not please him, and he
Begged a portion from Ham in fee
And Asshur and Arpachshad who
Was his wife’s brother, and in crew
He lived in the land of Media,
Near his wife’s kin, brother-in-law,
Until this day. 36 And he called his
Dwelling-place, and dwelling that is
Of his sons, Media, by the name
Of their father Madai of fame.

Beg and exchange land, it would seem to me
That You accept that for eternity,
And set the Medes to live upon the shore
Without a seaport till they meet the score
Of judgement day. The sun arises on
My mornings of praise at the break of dawn
To find me looking toward the Median light
And wondering at the glories of the sight
Of what lies here between. I see the sheen
Of gold above the lake, I see the lean
Web of the aspens and the darker load
Of firs that blacken out the fiery goad.
Beloved, the earth is ranged out to my view
As I lay my breast closely upon You.

WEEK 20 JUBILEES 11

1 In the thirty-fifth jubilee,
In the third week, the first year’s glee [1681 A.M.],
Reu took to himself a wife,
And her name was ‘Ora, the rife
Daughter of ‘Ur, the son of Kesed,
And she bore to him a son blessèd,
And he called his name Seroh, in
The seventh year of this week’s bin
In this jubilee. [1687 A.M.] 2 And the sons
Of Noah began to make runs
Of war on each other, to take
Captive and slay each other’s stake,
And to shed blood of men on earth,
And to eat blood as though in dearth,
And to build strong cities, and walls,
And towers, and some among the stalls
Exalted themselves above nation,
And found kingdoms for their elation,
To go to war folk against folk,
And nation against nation’s stroke,
And city against city, and
To do evil upon the land,
And to acquire arms, and to teach
Their sons to war, and they would reach
Out to capture cities, and sell
Male and female slaves on the tell.

Four gates of evil crush the folk that once
Stepped from the ark, gone out to play the dunce.
The first portal of wickedness is war
To shed human blood and to gloat on gore.
The second portal is the wickedness
Of consuming the blood of beast and mess.
The third gate of evil is teaching arms
And strategies to create war’s alarms.
The fourth gate of evil is in the taking
Of slaves both male and female for their shaking.
Four ways there be to sell one’s own soul cheap
And founder in the obscure paths and deep
Of justifying evil ways to men,
Pretending to turn to You once again.

3 And ‘Ur, the son of Kesed, built
The city of ‘Ara unspilt
Of the Chaldees, and called its name
After his own name and the name
Of his father. 4 And so they made
For themselves molten images,
And they worshipped each idol stayed,
And all the molten images
Which they made themselves, and they started
To make graven images arted
And unclean simulacra, and
Malignant spirits guided hand
Seducing them into committing
Transgression, uncleanness unfitting.

The four gates of evil are merely there,
Not only to wreak havoc on the fair,
But to replace Your worship with the glare
Of polytheistic idolatry.
Malignant spirits guide the hostelry
Of uncleanness, the unclean worship of
Gods and goddesses in temples of love.
Beloved, melt down the idols of my grove,
And cast their gold and silver in the trove
Of Your treasures and leave me naked, bare
To Your burning mercy. I climb the tree
That holds the earth together and I see
The whole world praising Your blessed symmetry.

5 And the prince Mastema exerted
Himself to do all this, and flirted,
He sent out other spirits, those
Which were put under his hand’s throes,
To do all kinds of wrong and sin,
All kinds of transgression within,
To corrupt and destroy, and to
Shed blood upon the earth like dew.

Disarming view expressed in every State
Is that violence is atoned by mate,
That two wrongs make a right, and the blood shed
Of the enemy satisfies the bed
Left cold in death. Let me not rage upon
The veils that hide the glory of the dawn,
But speak a word of peace for the release
Of anger in the rules of the increase.
Beloved, there is one way alone to bring
The world to peace and that is make them sing
The truth that there is not I but You only,
And that each man and woman is not lonely,
But has within the breast that I alone
That can for violence in peace atone.

6 For this reason he called the name
Of Seroh, Serug, for in blame
Everyone turned to do all kinds
Of sin and transgression and rinds.
7 And he grew up, and lived in Ur
Of the Chaldees, near to the fer
Who was father of his wife’s mother,
And he worshipped idols and other.

Serug, who might have been a harness-maker,
A knitter of fine wool, plaited hair’s raker,
Turns out instead to pervert his own name
To entanglements done for his shame.
Serug had all the chances to make good,
Living in the civilized, not in wood.
Instead he became entangled in web
Of idolatrous wisdom’s flow and ebb.
Beloved, I cut off all the strings that tie
My blinded, veiled and unillumined eye,
I cast away the bindings from my feet
And rush to You alone and to repeat
Your blessèd names upon the silent air
That looks down on Ur’s city in the glare.

And he took a wife gratefully
In the thirty-sixth jubilee,
In the fifth week, in the first year, [1744 A.M.]
And her name was Melka for cheer,
The daughter of Kaber, the daughter
Of his father’s brother who wrought her.
8 And she bore him Nahor, the first
Year of this week, he grew and versed
And lived in Ur of the Chaldees,
And his father taught him degrees
Of the researches of Chaldees
To divine and augur, according
To the signs of heaven uphoarding.
9 In thirty-seventh jubilee
In the sixth week, in first degree
And year of it, [1800 A.M.] he took a wife,
And her name was ‘Ijaska, fife
And 10 daughter of Nestag who was
Of the Chaldees as Chaldee does.
10 And she bore him Terah within
The seventh year of this week’s bin. [1806 A.M.]

The faith of Ur is to divine the future,
And character whether of king or butcher.
To these two distractions from divine law
Our science has added as though in awe
The divination of the past as well
To see what evolution knows to spell.
And so three spells make up the trinity
Of the creed taught and followed in the spree.
With divination tripartite in all
We try to do, Beloved, set up a wall
That veils reality from human eyes.
Then I shall flee to You in human guise.
I leave that trinity and trust alone
The Decalogue writ on my flesh and bone.

11 And the prince Mastema sent ravens
And birds to eat the seed in havens
Which was sown in the land, that they
Might destroy the land in a day,
And rob humankind of their labours.
Before they could plough without sabres
The seed, the ravens picked it from
The surface of the ground in sum.

What in the legal speech of land and State
Is called an act of God, by others fate,
Is action of Prince Mastema, who sends
The ravens of despoiling on both friends
And relatives of humankind. I trow
Catastrophes are still the what and how
That Mastema presents to fell and plough.
Who worship Mastema in divination
Are not exempt from princely convocation
That robs the farmer of his profit now
In floods and droughts and earthquakes for the row.
Beloved, is there on earth no lowly station
Where humankind can find a refuge sure?
Your heart saves soul, if not the body’s cure.

12 For this reason he called his name
Terah because the ravens came
And the birds reduced them in fare
To destitution, no repair,
And devoured their seed everywhere.

The name of Terah indicates the song
That farmers turned to nomads for the wrong
Done to them by the birds that ate their fields.
That is not what investigation yields.
And yet the widening of desert shows
That may have an historical repose.
The destitution of the world is great
And often product of devourer’s mate,
The weevil and the moth, the locust horde,
The crow and raven sent down by the lord,
All reduce humankind to gathering
What’s left beside the oasis and spring.
You sent our humankind to till the earth,
Beloved, but not always with joy and mirth.

13 And the years began to be barren,
Because of the birds and their share in,
And they devoured all the fruit trees,
It was only with great degrees
Of effort that they could save some
Of all the fruit on earth to come
In their days. 14 And in jubilee
Thirty-nine, in second week’s fee
In the first year, [1870 A.M.] Terah took him
A wife, her name was ‘Edna trim,
The daughter of ‘Abram, the daughter
Of his father’s sister who brought her.

Cross-cousin marriage is ideal sought
By agricultural peoples for plot,
Although a hunter also can be cast
Into marriage with relative to last.
The nomad often takes the parallel
As wife, which also casts a fateful spell
On the genetics of their progeny.
I wonder if Isaac was blemish free.
The whole lot seems to have trouble in mating
Or at least in producing and relating
To children. Beloved, You who steer the star
Are not bothered by such question by far
Who have no sons but by the miracle
That some obey Your word when they’re not full.

15 And in the seventh year of this
Week [1876 A.M.] she bore him a son to kiss,
And he called his name Abram, by
Name of his mother’s father’s try,
For he had died before his daughter
Had conceived a son, not by slaughter.

So Abram was named after mother’s father.
Since he was dead already, without bother
They could put the name to good use again.
The practice has come down to modern men.
So many follow Abram’s faith without
Knowing the origin of roundabout.
I too share in my mother’s father’s name
Given to me as second without shame,
Despite the brood of Georges one might blame.
He too was farmer put off by the birds,
Luckless and jinxed, he thought, down to his curds.
My cherry trees are also stripped of words.
Reality is made of one cloth piece
Stretched out from Ur and still without release.

16 The child began to understand
The errors of the earth at hand
That all went astray after graven
Images and after their craven
Uncleanness, and his father taught
Him writing, and he was as ought
Two weeks of years old, [1890 A.M.] and he went
To separate himself from vent
Of his father, that he might not
Worship idols with him as taught.

Bless Abram still, a little child who knew
That there was none to worship of the crew
Of heavenly signs and earthly banderlings,
Of things with arms or legs or tusks or wings.
Bless Abram still, at fourteen years of age,
After he’d learned the writing on the page,
Went out alone to seek the true faith’s stage
Alone since even relatives would wage
War against the worship of You that time.
I too live in a place of war and crime,
Where worship of You is turned into hate.
I too flee from the crowd and meet my fate
As hermit by the lake, beneath the hill.
Let me like Abram worship You here still.

17 And he began to pray Creator
Of all things that He might berater
Save him from the errors of men,
And that his portion should again
Not fall into error after
Uncleanness and vileness for cur.

Ah my Beloved, You may have heard the prayer
Of Abram when he looked up in the air
And asked that You might bless his son and heir
Not to partake of the idol’s despair.
And yet the centuries have shown with pain
That most of them have rejoined pagan plain,
Though many with the tongue admit Your name.
Beloved, I turn my eyes and heart for shame
To see Arab and Jew dismiss Your law,
The Decalogue, to render by the claw
A violence upon the golden land.
Stretch out, Beloved, again a helping hand,
And lead to peace in Islam Abram’s band.
I speak up from within the lion’s maw.

18 And the seed time came for the sowing
Of seed upon the land, and going
Out all together to protect
Their seed against the ravens pecked,
And Abram went out with those going,
And the child was fourteen years growing.
19 And a cloud of ravens came down
To eat the seed of the whole town,
And Abram ran to meet them there
Before they settled from the air,
And cried to them before they settled
On the ground to eat the seed nettled,
And said “Descend not, return to
The place where you came from and do,”
And they proceeded to turn back.
20 And he caused clouds of ravens slack
To turn back that day seventy times,
And all the ravens in the climes
Where Abram was did not come down.
21 And all who were with him in town
Saw him cry out, and all the ravens
Turn back, and his name’s great in havens
In all the land of the Chaldees.

What miracle makes Abram’s flailing arms
Against the ravens availing alarms?
Any might have gone out before to view
The ravens coming in to make a strew
Without their turning back. It may have been
The stamina that Abram had to win
By running in the crowd of birds each time
They came to settle on the fields in crime.
Twelve hours in a day and his done feat
Was seventy times that day to repeat,
Makes running out and flailing in each hour
Near seven times. Beloved, put in my power
To resist with such strength daily temptation
Seventy times come on my field and station.

22 And there came to him this year’s fees
All those that wished to sow, and he
Went with them till the time of wee
Sowing ceased: and they sowed their land,
And that year they brought grain in hand
Enough to eat and to be filled.
23 And in the first year of the billed
Fifth week [1891 A.M.] Abram taught those who made
Implements for oxen, the paid
Artificers in wood, and they
Made a vessel above the ground,
Facing the frame of the plough’s way,
To put seed on it safe and sound,
And the seed fell down from it on
The ploughshare, and in earth was drawn,
And they no longer feared the ravens.
24 And so this way they made as havens
Above the ground on all the frames
Of the ploughs, and they sowed their claims
And tilled the land, as Abram had
Commanded them, and they were glad,
No longer fearing as they had.

The exertion of driving off the crows
All day long made Abram think on his toes,
And so invented the machine that stows
The seed beneath the ground out of the way
Of ravens and the claws that cluck and sway
To pick the seed off from the surface soil.
There’s nothing for invention like the toil.
So Abram was the start not only of
The faith that’s born of wisdom and of love,
But also father of the seeding tool
That turned to wiseman every bleeding fool.
Beloved, I turn my hand to do the trick
And find my inspiration in the nick
Of Abram’s going out to find the pool.

JUBILEES 12

1 And it happened in the sixth week,
In the seventh year as might seek, [1904 A.M.]
That Abram said to Terah his
Father, saying “Father!” A whiz
His father said “Indeed, here am
I, my son.” 2 And then said Abram,
“What help and profit have we from
Those idols which you worship dumb,
And before which you bow yourself?
3 “For there’s no spirit in such elf,
For they are dumb forms, and misleading
Of the heart. Worship them not feeding:
4 “Worship the God of heaven and earth,
Who makes the rain come down on dearth
And dew to descend on the earth
And does everything on the earth,
And has created everything
By His word, and all life and wing
Is from before His face to sing.
5 “Why do you worship things with no
Spirit in them? For they are show
And work of men’s hands on the go,
And on your shoulders you bear them,
And you will have no help from them,
But they are a great cause of shame
To those who make them to their blame,
And a misleading of the heart
To those who worship them apart:
Don’t worship them, for it’s a shame.”

The story of Abram who told his father
Not to worship dumb idols but the rather
To worship You, is repeated as fair
In the Qur’an for those who seek it there,
Although the sacred books are unaware
Of that event in every other page.
Bit by sweet bit truths against falsehood wage
A struggle. So in every heart that comes
Beneath the blinding veils to do her sums
Find reason speaking like a loving son
To prevent the idolatry that’s done.
The Abram in my heart calls me to You
Away from the consignments in my view,
And so to You, Beloved, I turn and run.

6 And his father said to him, “I
Also know it, my son, but shy
What shall I do with a folk who
Have made me serve before their shoe?
7 “And if I tell them the truth, they
Will kill me, for their soul astray
Cleaves to them to worship them and
Honour them. 8 “Keep silent and stand,
My son, lest they kill you in band.”
And these words he spoke to his two
Brothers, and they were angry too
With him and he was quiet then.

The call of reason from idolatry
Goes often heeded with paternal glee,
An acquiescence, but folding the hands
As though naught can be done because the bands
Of social pressure weaken the heart’s spires.
Idolatry is something that retires
To wake anew each day and by surprise.
The veils renew the idols in the guise
Of duties and compassions. Set me free
From bands of brotherhood, idolatry
Sleeps in the congregation and the see.
Beloved, the whole world lies in silence where
For everyone’s sake people take the dare
And stop to find fresh roses for their share.

9 And in the fortieth jubilee,
In the second week of the pen,
In the seventh year of decree, [1925 A.M.]
Abram took to himself a wife,
And her name was Sarai, the rife
Daughter of his father, and she
Became his wife. 10 And Haran, he
Was his brother, took to himself
A wife in the third year and shelf
Of the third week, [1928 A.M.] and she bore him
A son in the seventh year grim
Of this week, [1932 A.M.] 11 and he called his name
Lot. And Nahor, his brother’s fame,
Took to himself a wife, no game.

Another wife for each of Abram’s brothers
Lets out the secret from the well that smothers
All hopes that any might stop to see doom,
How idol worship sneaks into the room.
My hands are weak to press the secret out
Under the foxgloved shadows of my rout.
Help comes to the stilled mind and soul at last
Around the cherry trees and, swinging fast,
Minutely cantillating in the sun
All shining apple leaves stretched out for fun.
Down from the peering at a new worn sky
And at the question marks in passing by
Love tendered from heart of woman and man
Instils at last the canopy of plan.

12 And in the sixtieth year of life
Of Abram, that is, in the strife
Of the fourth week, in the fourth year
Thereof, [1936 A.M.] Abram rose without fear
By night, and burned the idols’ house,
And burned all that was in the house
And no man knew it. 13 And they rose
In the night and sought to save those
Gods from the middle of the fire.

Well done, I say, though it took sixty years
To get the courage to face up to fears
That ruler and folk would come out to show
A face of opposition, have a go
At punishment or even if not slow
To kill the man. Perhaps he thought his life
Was finished anyway, and so the strife
Would make but little difference. Anyway,
I celebrate the Abrahamic day
That idols were burnt. My Beloved, take me
And search my heart for some idolatry
And purge my mind and hand down to my heart
Of images that take Your place and part.
Let nothing stay but Your eternity.

14 And Haran quickly ran, a flier
To save them, but the fire flamed up
Over him, thus ended his cup
And he was burnt by fire, and died
In Ur of the Chaldees to bide
Before his father Terah, and
They buried him in Ur to stand
Of the Chaldees. 15 And Terah went
Forth from Ur of the Chaldees spent,
He and his sons, to go into
The land of Lebanon, into
The land of Canaan, and he dwelt
In the land of Haran and knelt,
And Abram lived with Terah his
Father in Haran two weeks’ whiz
Of years. 16 And in the sixth week, in
The fifth year of it, [1951 A.M.] without sin
Abram sat up throughout the night
On the first day of seventh month’s rite
Observing the stars from the eve
To the morning without reprieve,
In order to see what would be
The character of year’s decree
With regard to the rains, and he
Was alone as he sat observing.
17 And a word came and without swerving
Into his heart and he said “All
The signs of the stars, and the call
Of signs of the moon and the sun
Are all in the hand of YHWH won.
Why do I search them out at all?
18 “If He desires, He causes rain,
Morning and evening, hill and plain,
And if He wills, He withholds it,
And all things are in His hand fit.”

Beloved, I see the science that predicts
The wealth targeted by many edicts,
And know that acquisition is a thing
Empty as power beloved in hand of king.
Today more look to star than look to You,
Perhaps because the star’s something in view,
While You hide in the here and now so close
To human heart there is no other dose,
Even the self. A star is safely far.
But bound in Your embrace molecular
I find no real but You, no help to gain
Existence outside Your encumbered plain.
Beloved, let come the sun or simple rain,
Withhold the kiss of breath or stay the chain.

19 And he prayed that night and he said
“My God, Ælohim Most High stead,
You alone are my God, and You
And Your dominion I take true.

A willow fell beside the well long since
And at the fall all in the homestead wince,
But raise no hand to pull it by the root
Or chop it out of its earthly dispute.
Between the earth and sky its frozen corpse
In angular appraisal of time warps
Meets winter sun. The summer sees the green
And silver dawn upon its branches’ sheen.
Caught between life and death it stands to wait,
Beloved, year by year its determined fate.
I too like that tree nailed to death and life
Look down upon the earth and all its strife
And raise a leaf to heaven to seek Your will.
Someday I too shall sink into earth’s hill.

And You’ve created all things, too,
And all things that are Your hands’ work.
20 Deliver me from hands of shirk,
Evil spirits who have dominion
Over men’s hearts and their opinion,
And let them not lead me astray
From You, my God, in any way.

Beloved, I join in Abram’s fervent prayer
That none might lead my soul from earth to air
In paths astray from Your heart and Your mind.
Lead You alone my soul, as I am blind.
Let every spirit of the times that casts
Its pall over the populace that fasts
Find no foothold within the rugged walls
That make my stony heart the fragrant stalls
Of Your appearing. Tie the gates fast from
The clatter of their screeching and the sum
Of false wisdom that writes in golden script
The wayward words so many here have sipped.
Beloved, I join Abram in prayer to You
That You alone be all my love and due.

And establish You me and my
Seed for ever that we comply
Not to go astray from now on
For evermore nor eve nor dawn.”

All prayers in favour of one’s children heard
Loud before You, Beloved, Your heart has stirred.
All prayers that one’s descendants on the hill
Have grace to follow You, stay in Your will,
Must meet Your favour, rouse Your mercy still
Until the birth and breath give them their trill.
How many prayers seem unanswered by You
As progeny grows up to fail their due.
My prayer for mine be better found in time
And place to set my children’s feet to rhyme.
Done is the prayer, and most of them are lost,
Almost the lot of Abram’s children tossed.
Long on the air, however, rings the hymn
In praise of Abram’s children that praised him.

21 And he said “Shall I now return
To Ur of the Chaldees to burn
Who seek my face when I return
To them, am I to remain here
In this place? The right path to fear
Before You prosper it in hand
Of Your servant that You command
That he may fulfil it and that
I may not walk like acrobat
In my heart’s deceit, O my God.”
22 He finished what he said to God
In prayer, and indeed word of YHWH
Was sent to him through me to do,
Saying “Get you up from your land,
And from your kindred and the band
Of your father’s house to a land
Which I will show you, and I’ll make
You a great nation for My sake.

The reader of the Torah wonders why
Abram so quickly obeyed without sigh
Your command to get out of land of birth.
It was not just faith in You that was worth
The trouble to his mind, he followed heart
To safety in a land that was apart.
I too look to my satisfaction and
My safety as I faithful take You hand
And follow leading to a far-off land.
Your word does not deny the cunningness
That moves survivor hearts to Your address.
In every land I come to follow You
I choose the safest ledge admiring view,
And wait there without hunger. You may bless.

23 “And I will bless you and I’ll make
Your name great, and You shall be blessed
In the earth, and in You the rest
Of all families on earth be blessed,
And I will bless them that bless you,
And curse them also that curse you.

To bless the name of prophet from Your hand,
Beloved, is according to Your command.
I bless the prophets and their words and deeds,
I bless their harvest and their planting seeds.
I bless their days and nights, their work and rest,
And blessing them, I still bless not the best.
Beloved, You who are above all in state
Are better to my eyes than small and great
Among those who have been sent in Your will
To represent You on both plain and hill.
Beloved, though I see all about the way
Your sent ones who lead those who want to stray,
Behind their blessing lies always the view
That none is true in fine but only You.

24 And I will be a God to you
And to your son, and son’s son too,
And to all your descendants true:
Fear not, from now on and unto
All generations of the earth
I am your God of highest worth.”

In all time and in every place You are,
Beloved, God alone and the only star.
All else is just illusion on the case.
They only seem who hold the glaive and mace.
If You are God to Abram and his son,
And his son after him when he is done,
Be my God too, let me not be left dumb
Without the fold of godnesses in sum.
I range through those vast places in Your time
And see beyond the mountains that I climb
The vistas of renewing faith in You.
I stop to greet the weather and the view.
Beloved, I step out on the azure plate
To find You everywhere I’d been to wait.

25 And YHWH Ælohim said “Open
His mouth and his ears, that he then
May hear and speak with his mouth, and
With the language which has been planned,”
For it had ceased from the mouths shut
Of all the children of men what
From the day of the overthrow
Of Babel had been all men’s show.
26 And I opened his mouth, his ear
And his lip, and I began clear
To speak with him in Hebrew tongue
In which I had creation sung.

Och, I had thought creation’s tongue to be
A perfect crystal shattered in the glee
Of Babel, so that all tongues have their share
In the splintered reflection of the fair.
But no, You tell me Hebrew is the right,
Though it seem no more sacred than the light
Of Arabic or Turkish or the flame
Of Iroquoian on the fond earth’s claim.
I thought the language that was once destroyed
At Babel was a hero tongue employed
So none could misinterpret its accord.
I thought it secret language of the Lord.
And yet when I hear the sweet words recited
Of Hebrew Torah, I am stunned, delighted.

27 And he took the books of his grand
Fathers, and these were writ by hand
In Hebrew, and he transcribed them,
And he began from then on them
To study, and I made known to
Him what he could not understand,
And he studied them as was due
During the six rainy months’ time.
28 And it happened about that time
In the seventh year of the week [1953 A.M.]
Number six that he spoke a peek
To his father and informed him,
That he would leave Haran and trim
To go into the land that’s called
Canaan to see it and enthralled
Return to him. 29 And so Terah
His father said to him for law,
“Go in peace. May the Ælohim
Of eternity make your dream
Path straight. And YHWH [be with you, and]
Protect you from all evil band,
And grant unto you grace to be,
Mercy and favour by whom see
You, and may none of humankind
Have power over you to mind
To harm you, go indeed in peace.
30 “And if You see a land’s increase
That’s pleasant to your eyes to dwell,
Then get you up and take me well
To you and take Lot with you, son
Of Haran your brother as son,
YHWH be with you. 31 “And Nahor your
Brother leave with me and in store
Till You return in peace, and we
Go with you all together free.”

I too read in those books once set to tell
Abram the way to Canaan and life’s well.
I read them in the sparkling Hebrew tongue
That shows Your footprints on creation’s rung,
And yet I do not see the graphic trust
That taught Abram distinguishing from dust,
Because the letters over time have changed
From early scrawl to new square Hebrew ranged
In neat rows. But I wonder as I read
The syllables in silver melodies
What ways the pen took then in Abram’s need,
And what prints filled the parchment or the friese.
Beloved, I find bosom of Abraham
In the same books I read here where I am.



AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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