1 KINGS CHAPTER 7 - 10

1 KINGS 7

1And Solomon for thirteen years
Built his own house, and it appears
He finished all his house veneers.
2 He built the house of Lebanese
Wood, a hundred arm-lengths in ease,
The width of it fifty arm-lengths,
Its height thirty arm-lengths for strengths,
Upon four rows of cedar pillars,
With cedar beams upon the pillars.
3 It was panelled with cedar there
Above the side rooms in their share
Of pillars there were forty-five,
Fifteen in each row of the hive.
4 And windows rising in three rows
Light against light three rows it glows.
5 And all the doors and posts were square,
Framing light against light three share.
6 And he made a pillar porch whose
Length was fifty arm-lengths and whose
Width was thirty arm-lengths and that
Porch was before them, and there sat
The pillars and the heavy beam
Before them all as in a team.

The king took thirteen years to build his house
Ornately firm against the works of mouse.
In squares and threes the style of light and shade
Work all together handsomely repaid
With porches, pillars, every heavy beam.
The house arises as though from a dream.
Beloved, I build my house, I’ve just begun
With fifty years behind me in the sun.
I have the plans before me and I set
Foundations in accordance with them yet.
The porches and the altars all in view
Surround the inner temple aperçu.
The walls rise up before my dreaming eyes
To spires that comb with marble morning skies.

7 Then he made a throne-room where he
Might judge in justice, righteously,
The porch of judgement covered by
Cedar in wall to wall outvie.
8 And his house where he lived had yet
Another court within the porch,
Which was of the same work and set.
Solomon also made like torch
A house for Pharaoh’s daughter whom
He’d married, one just like this room.
9 All these expensive stones well cut
In measurement of stone unshut
From saws, within, without and from
Foundation to the copingdom
As far outside as to the great
Court. 10 The foundation was ornate
With stones, large stones of arm-lengths ten
And some eight arm-lengths there again.

Some stones in the foundation measure to
Ten arm-lengths till they come on border crew
Of stones as little as eight arm-lengths do.
All of these stones are great when in my view.
Today the marble and the granite ware
Are often placed in panels for the glare
Of sun and state, while all the people there
Pretend the architecture’s residue
Is greater than the ancients could construe.
The pride of those today who shoot the knees
Out from under the civilized trapeze
I swear brings laughter cynical to wheeze.
Beloved, I sit upon foundation stone
And see Solomon there upon his throne.

11 Above were costly stones well hewn
By stone measure and cedars strewn.
12 And the great court set round about
With three rows of hewn stones and stout,
A row of cedar beams, both for
The inner court of YHWH’s house store,
And for the house’s porch encore.
13 King Solomon sent and brought out
Hiram from Tyre, the one he sought.
14 He was a widow’s son of tribe
Of Naphtali, his father’s bribe
Was to be a man of Tyre and
A worker in brass on the land,
And he was filled with wisdom and
With understanding, skilled to work
All labourings in brass and dirk.
15 And he came to king Solomon,
Did all his work beneath the sun.
And he cast two pillars of brass
Each one eighteen arm-lengths to pass
In height, a line of twelve arm-lengths
Surrounded both of them in strengths.

Beloved, I see that Solomon spoke fair
To his own friends and relatives to spare.
The king of Tyre was but an Israelite
And not a heathen in Solomon’s sight.
The tribe of Dan is great upon the earth,
And held in David’s esteem and in worth,
So Solomon did nothing in contrary
When he fostered his father’s friend and merry.
Beloved, I find my friends and counterparts
Among the pagan blokes, unesteemed farts.
There’s nothing more to choose from and be chary,
And so I walk in idolatrous arts.
Though my hands find the granite cut to be
Idol, I still bow to no Trinity.

16 He made two molten capitals
Of brass set on the citadels
Of the pillars, the height of each
Capital was five arm-lengths’ reach,
And so the height the other one
Came to was five arm-lengths when done.
17 And nets of checker work and wreaths
Of chain work that looks like it breathes,
For capitals on pillar tops,
Seven for one capital drops,
And for the other seven too.
18 And he made the pillars, and two
Rows round about upon the one
Network to cover when it’s done
The capitals that were upon
The top with pomegranates, and
The other capital in hand.
19 The capitals that were on top
Of the pillars of lily fop
In the porch were four arm-lengths’ band.
20 And the capitals on the two
Pillars also above, up to
The underside which was to do
With the network and the pomegranates,
Two hundred in rows, marbles, granites,
Round on the other capital.
21 And he set up the pillars in
The porch of the temple to win,
And he set up the pillar right,
And called the name thereof Jachin,
And he set up the pillar left,
And called its name Boaz when cleft.

Trying to read the meanings of those names
Of Jachin and Boaz seem through the flames
Of my love and my will to obey You,
Beloved, in everything I say and do,
It seems the one means the prepared while that
Other pillar’s unflinching where it sat.
Prepared, unflinching let me ever be
As those two pillars that one then could see
Crowning Your temple porch. Beloved, let me
Be such in the small temple of my heart.
Established in strength let me do my part
In building the invisible palace
Of praise before Your ever hidden face,
Palace of grace and praise, of praise and grace.

22 On the pillars’ top lily work,
In pillars’ work they did not shirk.
He made the sea of molten work
Ten arm-lengths in diameter
All round about, its height to stir
Was five arm-lengths, and the line of
Its circumference as seen above
Was thirty arm-lengths as it were.
24 Under its brim and all around
Were knops surrounding it and found
Ten in an arm-length, surrounding
The sea the knops were cast in ring
Of two rows when they cast the thing.
25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three
Looking toward the north to see,
And three facing toward the west,
And three looking toward south to rest,
And three facing east, and the sea
Was set above on them to be,
And all their back sides stayed beneath.
26 It was a handbreadth thick beneath,
And the brim of it was turned down
Like the brim of a cup to crown
With lily blossoms, and when full
It held two thousand baths in pool.
27 And he made ten bases of brass,
Four arm-lengths in length was the pass
Of each base, and four arm-lengths wide,
And three arm-lengths in height beside.
28 And the bases’ work was like this:
They’d borders, ones that did not miss
Between the ledges. 29 And upon
The borders between ledges drawn
Were lions, oxen, cherubs, above
There was a base, and beneath of
The lions and oxen were set
More additions of thin work yet.

The lion lies down with the ox to find
The cherubim look on them, calm and kind,
While I am busy with my churning thoughts
That Solomon in making imaged plots
Comes too close for my taste to idol fare.
But if You are You come to wander there
Do not strike him down dead for wanderlust,
Nor shall I grind the brazen forms to dust.
Beloved, I rather come before the pot
Of waters of a thousand measures sought
To wash me in ablutions as were taught.
If not ablutions, then I stay to touch
The lions’ manes and oxen’s paunch with much
Rubbing to polish and remain for such.

30 Every base had four brazen wheels,
And plates of brass, and at the heels
Of its four corners underset,
Beneath the laver as cast yet
With wreaths at each one’s side to get.
31 And the opening of it in
The crown and above was in bin
An arm-length high, the opening
Was round after work of the thing
At the base, an arm-length and half,
And on the opening, no gaff,
Were carvings with their borders square
And not round like the other share.
32 Under the borders there were four
Wheels with axles of wheels in store
In the base, and the height of each
Wheel was arm-length and half to reach.
33 And the wheel design was like that
Of chariot wheel, their axles sat,
Their rims, their hubs, their spokes all cast.
34 And there were four pieces that passed
Under the corners of each base,
And the under-pieces in trace
Were of one piece there with the base.
35 And in the top of the base there
It was completely round to bear,
Of half an arm-length in its height,
And on top of the base unite
Its ledges and borders the same.
36 For on the surface of its game
And panels he carved cherubim,
Lions and palm trees it would seem
According to the space of each
With wreaths around about its reach.
37 He made the ten bases like this,
All had one casting, not to miss
One measure and one size to kiss.

The lions lie beneath the palms to find
Rest from their hunting after having dined.
The oxen of life have gone on the way
Of all breath to await the Judgement day.
With wreath and cherubim, digestion takes
Its course for resting lions and their sakes.
Ten bases each with four wheels that will show
The forty degrees as descending arcs go
And those that rise up to Your throne to be
The shining steps towards eternity.
Beloved, I follow wheel on wheel to climb
The starry journey through orange blossom, lime,
Until ablutions sink into the night
Of drowsing cherubim for trilobite.

1 KINGS 8

1 Then Solomon assembled men
Elders of Israel, and then
All of the tribal heads, the chief
Of the fathers of Israel’s fief,
To king Solomon in the town
Of Jerusalem, that for crown
They bring up the ark of the pact
Of YHWH out of the town intact
Of David, which is Zion’s claim.
2 Then all the men of Israel’s fame
Gathered themselves before the king
Solomon at the feast in ring
Of the month of Ethanim which
Is seventh month without a hitch.
3 And all Israel’s elders came out,
And the priests took the ark up stout.
4 And they brought up the ark of YHWH
And the tent of the people’s crew,
And all the holy vessels that
Within the tabernacle sat,
The priests and Levites brought them flat.
5 King Solomon and all the folk
Of Israel that went for broke
Gathered before him at the stroke
Before the ark, sacrificed sheep
And oxen there, that could not keep
Track of the number for the pile
That accumulated the while.
6 The priests brought in the ark of pact
With YHWH into its place in fact
The oracle of the house, to
The most holy, under the view
Of wings of cherubim as due.
7 The cherubim spread out both wings
Over the place where the ark springs,
And cherubim covered the ark
And the staves by which it did park.
8 And they pulled out the staves to that
The stave ends appeared from thereat,
The holy before oracle,
And they did not appear in full
Outside, and there they are until
This very day to fit the bill.

The staves by which the ark was born at last
Found resting place not to be used as passed
The centuries the temple stood its ground,
The staves were always there and to be found.
The golden covered poles were not in view
Before the crowd and Israel’s faithful crew,
And as the decades passed there were but few
Who ever thought of those staves without dew
Or sunshine to relent to passing time.
Beloved, here I lie in my fatal rhyme
Ready to be used in Your plan and care,
Hidden from both the plain as well as fair.
Beloved, inert and like acacia staves
I stand and wait, ready before the graves.

9 There was nothing in the ark but
The two tables of stone unshut
Which Moses placed there at the Mount
Horeb, when YHWH set to account
The children of Israel, when they
Came out of Egypt’s land to stay.
10 It came to pass when the priests came
Out of the holy, that the flame
Of cloud filled the house of YHWH’s claim.
11 So the priests could not stand to serve
Because of the cloud on the curve,
For YHWH’s glory had filled the place
Where YHWH entered to stay in grace.

Within my heart, Beloved, and where I stand
Hidden from all the things that humans planned
Under the spreading wings of cherubim
Surrounded by the golden walls and rim,
Within my heart, Beloved, there is naught but
The tables of Your law and with that glut
My heart is filled beyond the reach of room
Where I await the glory and the doom.
Beloved, I’m shadowed by the layered tent
Of stone and cedar without hole or rent
Through which to see the depth of star-shred sky.
My only sight is blind when You come by.
And yet the golden cover and the stone
Open to heavens beyond and to Your throne.

12 Then Solomon spoke up to say
“YHWH said that he would come to stay
In thick darkness as seen today.
13 Building I’ve built You where to dwell,
A house, a place to abide well
Forever.” 14 And the king turned round
And blessed the gathered people sound
Of Israel, and all the folk
Of Israel stood at the stroke.

How many in that fertile time and place
Understood how great was the present grace
To be blessed by the wisest of all men,
By Solomon’s prolific tongue and pen?
It’s strange that folk look up more to the dead
Than to the living, yet when’s done and said,
It was a mercy, grace and honour too
To hear the blessèd words heard by the few.
The other extreme is also found here,
The adoration of the glitter bier
That bears the star along the helpful pier.
Beloved, I flee to You alone and those
That You have sent though dressed in dervish clothes
To find the dawn and in the dawn the rose.

15 And he said “Blessèd be the YHWH
Ælohim of Israel to do,
Who spoke by his mouth and unto
David my father, and has done
With His hand what He has begun,
Saying 16 ‘Since the day that I brought
My people Israel from the plot
Of Egypt, I chose not town out
Of all the tribes of Israel stout
To build a house, that My name might
Be in it, but I chose the wight
David to be over my folk
Israel and stand firm like an oak.’
17 “And it was in David’s heart my
Father’s to build a house whereby
The name of YHWH Ælohim might
Stand for ever in Israel’s sight.
18 And YHWH said to David my dad,
‘Since it was in your heart you had
To build My name a house and filled,
You did well that it was in heart.
19 ‘But you shall not build the house part,
But your son that shall come from your
Body, he shall build temple store
To My name.’ 20 And YHWH has fulfilled
His thing that he spoke, and unskilled
I rose in David my dad’s place,
And sit on Israel’s throne by grace
Of YHWH’s promise, and I have built
A house for YHWH’s name to the hilt,
Who is Israel’s Ælohim. 21 And
I have set there a place for ark
Wherein YHWH’s covenant will park,
Which He made with our ancestors
When He brought them from Egypt’s doors.”

The king remembered promises once spoken
To his father and given in their token
That he should reign to rule and build and make
A place for Your name and for Your sweet sake.
The king planned and construed his life to meet
What he knew of Your promises and sweet.
And so he lived to live within the share
That You provided for his daily care.
Beloved, are there some prophecies that plan
My life today living here as a man?
I search the sprawling characters to see
If paper and ink say a word to me,
And listen to the hymn rise from the book
To curl above my being for a look.

22 And Solomon stood there before
YHWH’s altar in the sight and store
Of all the gathered Israel’s folk,
And stretched out hands towards heaven 23 and spoke:
“YHWH Israel’s Ælohim, there’s no
Ælohim like You, not to show
In heaven above nor earth below,
Who keep covenant, mercy’s grace
With Your servants that walk this place
Before You with all their heart’s race,
24 “Who have kept with David Your slave
My father what before the grave
You promised him, You spoke also
With Your mouth and have made it so
With Your hand as today it’s so.
25 “Therefore now, YHWH Ælohim of
Israel, keep with Your servant love
David my father what You said
In promise to him visited,
‘There shall not lack from you a man
In My sight to sit and by plan
On the throne of Israel, so that
Your children take care where they’re at,
To walk before me as you’ve walked
Before me to do, not just talked.’
26 “And now, O Israel’s Ælohim,
Let Your word, I beg You, for scheme
Be verified, which You spoke to
Your servant David, my dad too.
27 “But will Ælohim truly dwell
On the earth? See, the sky and shell
Of skies cannot contain You, nor
Can this house I have built in store.

Beloved, the skies above all things do not
Have room and place to give You form and plot.
The earth is too small with its myriad horde
Of life and death and all events unscored
To give You thought worthy of footstool sewn.
The human mind and heart have never known
The start or finish of Your being’s grace.
The heaven of heavens cannot contain Your face.
And yet, Beloved, men build for You a room
Of brick and merchandize, and to their doom
Built of both flesh and bone and open heart
As though You might be found in things apart.
The heaven of heavens cannot contain Your own,
Can heart of man sustain Your royal throne?

Qadiim

Beloved, You are not before time, You bow
To nothing that comes on the human brow.
You are not in time or above somehow,
For nothing impinges on Your quintessence.
Self-existent, if existence can be
Attributed to You who from things flee,
To whom no thingness is a canopy,
Your ancientness is not some adolescence.
Beloved, You are Creator of both time
And space and every rhythm with its rhyme,
You are the ancient and first cause of all
That turns in whirling as ball within ball.
Beforeness, afterness, all disappear
In light of Your timelessness’ engineer.

Qadir

Almighty One, omnipotent indeed,
Your might extends to all action in seed
Who can alone do or undo all things
That praise or depose paupers and their kings.
Almighty One, Beloved, Your sovereign will
Is matchless, incontestable, and still
Cannot like humankind come to produce
Offspring nor dwindle before world time’s use.
Beloved, beside Your might there is no might
Nor power nor sovereignty before the light
Of day. I hide beneath omnipotence
As though within Your fast embroidered tents,
And find wherever I turn in my need
There You reign without effort, without greed.

‘Aalim

Beloved, You’re only knower of all things,
Because You have created all in rings,
And everything is from Your plan to boot,
No thing exists but has in You its root.
Beloved, You are the knower of the great,
The knower of the least, at any rate
You know all things between, and only You
Know what is not and what is false and true.
Beloved, I come to seek the knowledge fast
That You desire to show me in the cast
Of players on the screen of universe.
I find since You know all, there’s none that I
Can know beside, not even if I try.
Beloved, as teacher I’d surely do worse.

Mudrik

Direct perception of all things You make
Without ear or eye or feeling at stake.
You smell without the need of nose to toast
The breadcrumbs that fall from each human boast.
You taste the universe, both salt and sweet,
Without a tongue to grant the fruit and meat.
No medium is needed by Your bill,
Who ride in all perceiving from the hill
Of Your sovereign estate and find the light
An object in itself, not means of sight.
Beloved, I fumble in my flailing search
To know the difference of beech and birch,
While all extensions of my senses show
That I perceive nothing beneath Your glow.

Hayy

Beloved, I see around prolific life,
I hear the humming sound as without strife
The worlds of insect, mate and leaf retreat
To swirl again in never-ending feat.
Beloved, the life I find within myself
Is like that of each fairy wing and elf:
It still depends from breath to breath on You
Who made the creature from the soil and dew.
Beloved, Your life is without tangent cause,
It does not bend to worry or to laws,
But exists without need of being’s might,
Beloved, You are beyond life’s inner sight,
And yet without need or share You too live,
And living You alone need naught to give.

Muriid

Master of Your own will, You unlike me
Find no impediment to do and see.
You need no matter no, nor energy
To perform Your will on the planets’ ring.
Beloved, Your action needs no clay to mold,
It needs no atom nor any sheep-fold,
But without man or lamb You still appear
To breathe into one’s nostrils hope and fear,
And lead the other without laugh or tear.
Beloved and Master of my will and Yours,
You see without a window, without doors
You come and go, and yet need neither place
Nor time to engage in the spaceless race,
Nor clothing to find heat here in the cold.

Mutakallim

Creator of speech, attribute divine
That goes unmentioned in the Christian vine
So presumed by scholar, also by friend,
That it remains invisible to end!
Creator of speech, You bend down to make
The tongue utter the sounds for the sound’s sake
And give the meaning that human’s mistake
For thought and knowledge at the last up-take.
Beloved, I hear the bumblebee give birth
To messages divine, of greater worth
Than human sonnets told and retold when
The slight reflection dozes on strong men.
Return to me, Beloved, and create speech
That I may utter what You only teach.

Sadiq

The moral power that You have set in me
To strive to tell the truth eternally
Burns in Your essence which can only be
Truth, truth in its absolute purity.
Beloved, the Truthful, through all shades of light,
Through days of gold and through argentine night,
Your very self is found when Truth stands clear:
In Truth You become visible to ear.
Beloved, give me the love of truth, though I
May wander in the sweeter-smelling pie
That anchors my illusion to the sky.
Beloved, give me mercy of truth, though time
Has given me but brief moments to climb
Into the ghosts of Your eternal rhyme.

Murakkab

Beloved, unlike creation, there is not
In You any part or compound that’s wrought
To frame Your form or give internal grace,
Or lines and features to the divine face.
The Psalmist says to taste and see that You
Are good, and yet I know from my brief view
Of hope and help that should I taste Your dew
You would be pure down to last honey drop.
Beloved, forgive my little joke and stop
To show Yourself no compound in the shop.
You are not made of things opposing or
Complementing, additional in store:
Beloved, there are no parts in You nor edge
To give place to my love as coming wedge.

Makan

Though all things that exist need You to be,
There’s nothing in You needing to be free.
You do not find accommodation’s seat
When You step on the universe to greet.
Beloved, You do not shift aside Your throne
To give place to the flesh in blood and bone,
Nor do You say Your pardons when You step
Aside to let a lady pass with pep.
You displace no thing by the fact that You
Are absolutely One and always true,
With neither inside nor outside to do
A dance with suns and planets in new shoe.
Beloved, accommodate no thing in me,
But be the I in all my symmetry.

Huluul

Beloved, You are eternally to be
Without limitation, infinitely.
There is no bound created that contains
Your essence of self on the autumn rains.
You do not incarnate, not because one
Body is too small for deity’s run,
But because you cannot leave those behind
That would be not You in the constant bind
Of incarnation’s choice to set the flood
Of deity in one man’s flesh and blood.
Idols alone incarnate in specific,
But You are always present and terrific.
You do not leave bereft the cells of one
Even who denies You the race You run.

Maryii

Because you have no edge that I can see,
No limitation in the world to be,
You are invisible, Beloved, to me.
I see You not, not because You are far
And distant like the tiny blaze of star,
Nor because You are greater than my sight
Can reach beyond the days and years of light.
I see You not, Beloved, because Your face
Is too close to my own in love’s embrace,
And where the kiss of life retains the beat
Of heart and mind, there You’re too close to meet.
Beloved, You are invisible because
You are too near to me for seeing’s laws.
You are nearer than self in my heart’s seat.

Ihtiyaj

Beloved, I am a creature of dark needs,
I need the pleasure of the planted seeds,
The taste of water on the sprouting corn,
The smell of Your delight on sparkling morn.
Beloved, I am created with the spark
Of needing You in both the light and dark,
Since I have no breath but what comes from You
Who kiss me to life with the new, fresh dew.
But You, Beloved, have no need for Your score,
No need for love or hate, no need for more
In nourishment, in drink or sacrifice.
You have no need of wicked or the nice.
Beloved, You who have no need, descend yet
To find me needing nothing in Your debt.

Shirkat

Beloved, You are alone God in the way
The universe created bears its sway.
There is no one associate or friend
To share divinity from start to end.
You are alone God in this marvelled place,
There is no other god before Your face.
There is no man to come in divine trace
To be another god I might adore.
You are alone, there’s none other in store,
No, not the spirit nor the one born in
The barn to save the world from the first sin.
Beloved, though You may be alone to find
That no one is associate to bind,
Yet where all things are there You are too kind.

Without Change

In all the universe of lights and stars,
In all the cities’ fraught with cattle cars,
In all the lanes that lead me to the rote
Of fir and pine and birch to hear the note
Of spheres still singing on the single air,
There is change in each thing and everywhere.
Beloved, You are the only One to share
Not change, since You are always One and same.
That’s why even the stars sing out Your name,
And every linnet with voice to proclaim
With changing breath tells of You without shame.
Beloved, unchanging through the templed nights
That burden me with hopes and hopeless sights,
You alone remain unchanging to care.

Without Addition

Beloved, what qualifies my given name
And being is detachable in shame.
I may speak truly if it is Your will,
But I am never truth to fit the bill
Except as Your own Self becomes my own,
Casting out my illusion to intone
Your Self only. Beloved, I share with all
Qualities You have given terrestrial ball.
But You have none of attributes to share,
What is You is always You and is bare.
You are not merely truthful, but You are
Truth itself and not just a guiding star.
Beloved, I cannot grasp Your frame and fame,
But I can still love and repeat Your name.

28 “Yet have respect unto the prayer
Of Your servant and to his care
In supplication, Ælohim
YHWH, my God, to give ear in scheme
To the cry and prayer that Your slave
Prays before You today for glaive.
29 “That Your eyes may be open toward
This temple night and day, toward
The place of which You’ve said ‘My name
Shall be there,’ that You may attain
To hearing the prayer which Your slave
Shall make toward this place and nave.
30 “And may You hear the supplication
Of Your servant and of Your nation
Israel, when they pray toward this place.
Hear in heaven Your dwelling place,
And when You hear, forgive with grace.

Your servants, my Beloved, have always prayed
Towards Your house. In those days when it stayed
A tattered tent at Shiloh and in time
More ancient yet and in a drier clime
It followed flocks in search of desert streams,
Still all turned toward the sacred, glowing gleams
Of the Shekinah where Your presence was
Expressed in light. They turned for every cause
Toward Your house. As Solomon petitions,
Let us find grace today in all conditions.
Forgive the church and mosque and synagogue
For raising Qiblas for the demagogue.
Let me turn toward You singly and alone,
Confess my faults towards Your cornerstone.

31 “If anyone sins against his
Neighbour, and then oath on him is
Laid to cause him to swear, and he
Comes to swear at Your altar free
In this house, 32 “Then hear in the sky,
And do and judge Your servants nigh,
Condemning wicked ones, to bring
His way upon his head to ring,
And justifying righteous one
To give him as righteous he’s done.

Though men may swear their innocence abroad
Or in the house of Zion and like clod,
You know, Beloved, what is the true and what
Is secret of iniquity and shut.
Strike him who swears falsely against my race,
But do not forget to look past my face
To see what things are hidden in the place
Of my heart, even what I do not know,
And root out all the evil from the show.
Beloved, although that temple now is gone
That Solomon blessed on the rosy dawn,
I pray that as I turn toward the spot
That You will touch again my humble plot
To give according to Your righteous glow.

33 “When Your people Israel are struck
Down before foes into the muck,
Because they’ve sinned against You, and
Shall turn back to You as You planned
To confess Your name and to pray
And supplicate You in the way
Of this house, 34 “Then hear in the sky,
And forgive the sin of the spry
Folk of Your Israel and bring them
Back to the land You gave like gem
To their ancestors. 34 “When the sky
Is shut and there’s no rain to fly,
Because they’ve sinned against You, if
They pray, confess Your name not stiff
And turn from their sin when You strike,
36 “Then hear in heaven, forgive the spike
Of Your servants, and of Your folk
Israel, to teach them at a stroke
The good way in which they should walk,
And give rain on Your land and stalk,
Which You gave to Your people for
Inheritance, basket and store.

37 If there is famine in the land,
If there is pestilence at hand,
Blasting, mildew, locust, or if
There are caterpillars in griff,
If their foes besiege them along
The land of their cities in throng,
Whatever plague or sickness call,
38 “What prayer and supplication small
Is made by any one, or by
All of You people in the sty
Of Israel, which every man
Knows as the pain of his heart’s ban,
And stretch out his hands toward this house,
39 “Then hear in heaven Your place to grouse,
And do forgive, and make and give
To everyone as he shall live,
Whose heart is known to You, for You
Alone keep all the hearts in view
Of all the sons of men, not few.

All-knowing You are said to be by all,
The Hebrew, Christian, Muslim at the call
Of prayer in every house of worship met
In Istanbul or other city’s flet
Come to declare that You know everything.
And so the human heart is not a thing
Hidden from Your knowledge. The barren room
That is my inner chamber neath the loom
Of patterns in the ripened universe
Is not a place of worship any worse
Than those. I too come to acknowledge You
As knowing, sounding all in, out of view.
Beloved, know that I know that You are there
To know all things in and out of my care.

40 “That they may fear You all the days
That they live in the land for stays
Which You gave to our fathers’ praise.
41 As well, as it concerns the one
Who’s come to Israel on the run,
Your people, but is not their son,
But comes from a far land to take
Your name and for Your fortune’s sake,
42 “For they shall hear of Your great name,
And of Your strong hand and the fame
Of Your stretched out arm, when he’ll come
And pray towards this house in sum,
43 “Then hear in heaven Your dwelling place,
And do according to Your grace
Of all that stranger asks You for,
So all folk of the earth in store
May know Your name, and fear You more
As do Your folk Israel in score.

Beloved, I am a stranger in a land
Far from the house that Solomon in hand
Once dedicated to Your name and fame:
I am a poor Hittite that has no claim
To any blessing that You lay on sod.
Others may be the seed, but I’m the pod.
And yet I turn toward that temple square
Even today, so far in time and air
From that place sacred to the divine share.
Beloved, beneath the northern skies when gray
Or light at midnight as the light of day,
I turn toward Jerusalem to pray
And seek the blessing Solomon once laid
For me and every stranger’s accolade.

44 “If Your people go out to fight
Against their foe, and where they might
Alight as sent by You and pray
To YHWH toward the city’s way
That You have chosen, and the house
I’ve built for Your name, not for mouse,
45 “Then hear in heaven their prayer and their
Own supplication, treat them fair.
46 “If they sin against You, and there
Is no man that does not sin here
And You are angry with the peer,
And turn them over in their fear
To enemy, so that they come
And carry them away in sum
As captives to enemy land,
Either far off or near at hand,
47 “Yet if they wake up from their dream
In the land where they’re carried team
Of captives, and repent and make
Supplication and for Your sake
In the land of the ones who took
Them captives, saying “We forsook
The right and have done wickedly,
We’ve committed impiety,
48 “And so return to You with all
Their heart and with their soul in stall,
In the land of their enemies,
Who led them out captive to please,
And pray to You toward their land,
Which You gave to their fathers’ band,
The city that You’ve chosen out,
Then the house which I have built stout
For Your name only without doubt,
49 “Then hear their prayer and hear also
Their supplication in the glow
Of heaven Your dwelling place and show
Strength favouring their cause below,
50 And forgive Your folk who’ve done wrong
Against You, and give them along
Side of those who carried them out
As captives, compassion about,
That they may take pity on them.
51 For they’re Your people, and Your gem
That You brought out of Egypt’s hem,
Up from the iron furnace’ stem.

Why must there be a foe, Beloved, and why
Must any go out to the fray and fly?
It’s not a thing writ in genetic code
That man must fight instead of bearing load,
For centuries the native people that
Along the western coast of Chile sat
Lived on in peace without the art of sword,
Without a lock or weapon on the board.
If savages can so live in Your will,
Cannot the civilized who foot the bill?
Beloved, I see that You are neither good
Or else as strong as You could be or should.
Good, yes, perhaps, but thwarted by the blow
The humans shower on each other’s toe.

52 “So Your eyes may be open to
The supplication of Your crew
Of servants and to what they beg
Who are Your people, Israel’s peg,
To listen to them when they call
To You for help in home and stall.
53 “For You once set them apart from
Among all the people that come
And go on earth, to be Your own
Inheritance, and You spoke known
By the hand of Your servant Moses,
When You brought our fathers and chose us
Out of Egypt, Lord YHWH enclose us.”
So Solomon spoke of the house
That he’d finished building like mouse.
He showed the sun in sky above,
The Lord, said he, would dwell in love
Of darkness, so build Me a house,
A beautiful house where anew
To dwell, and see is it not true,
It’s written in the book of song
And lovingly carried along.

Who knows who added or subtracted this
Expression of Solomon in his bliss.
But it describes and praises once that house
That rose for beauty that one did not dowse
Until the king of Babylon came by
To destroy what was built to honour why
You alone reign as God on earth and sky.
A beautiful house to live in, it’s true
And written in the canticles to brew
The sweetness of Your presence in the dew
And lichen-covered rock waiting for snow.
Beloved, may I be in my come and go
A temple where may dwell Your presence spent
In Psalms aspiring from my fleshly tent.

54 And so it happened Solomon
Finished his prayer under the sun,
All this prayer and supplication
To YHWH, then he arose before
The altar of YHWH, from the floor
Kneeling on his knees with his hands
Spread up to heaven for commands.

I see, Beloved, the king of ancient time
Prostrating on the temple floor to climb
At last to sit upon his heels and wait
Your approbation of him and his fate.
He recites supplication to his Lord,
And sets aside the plough as well as sword
To stretch his empty hands to You in prayer.
Beloved, see that although I was not there,
I too upon the paving stones prostrate,
I too rise to stretch out my hands ingrate
To praise and petition You though my heart
Is small to know the glories of Your part.
Paint my feeble words now in gratitude
To mind the spires and canopies unviewed.

55 And he stood there and blessed the folk,
All Israel with a loud stroke
Of voice saying 56 “Now blessed be YHWH
That has given His rest unto
His people Israel, and by
All that He promised there has not
Failed one word of all that He taught
In good promise, which He by hand
Of His slave Moses, gave command.

Have You, Beloved, given Your rest just to
Israel alone, and left the Gentile crew
With no Sabbath at all? Surely the string
Of Rabbincal law is worth a fling.
The Rabbis would prevent obedience
To Sabbath command in the pagan tents,
And yet give hope and health to donkey that
Fate has given a shelter where son sat
In tents of Shem. Beloved, though I am worth
Perhaps less than a donkey on the earth
Belonging to a Hebrew, still I trow
That I shall have the Sabbath gift somehow.
If this house Solomon built is for all,
Then I too answer at the restful call.

57 “YHWH our Ælohim be with us
As He was with our fathers’ muss,
Let Him not leave us nor forsake,
58 “That He may incline our hearts’ wake
To Him to walk in all His ways,
And to keep His commandments’ ways,
And His statutes and His judgements
Commanded on our fathers’ tents.

The Anglican today perhaps still comes
To say these words with rolling of the drums
Of organ sound among the Norman heights
That rise in cathedral might to my sights.
He still prays You might incline heart to do
According to the commands of the true
Law that You once proclaimed on Sinai’s mount.
I wonder how many such laws in count
Such worshippers intend to keep at all.
It does not seem the Sabbath day will fall
Among the number, though it makes a third
Of the text of the Decalogue in word.
Beloved, incline my heart, incline again,
That I might obey You before all men.

59 “And let these words by which I’ve made
Supplication before YHWH stayed,
Be near to YHWH our Ælohim
Day and night, so He might in scheme
Maintain the right of His servant,
And the right of His people meant,
Of Israel at all times as sent.
60 “That all the earth’s people might know
That YHWH is Ælohim and show
There is no other on the go.
61 “And so may your heart wholly be
With YHWH our Ælohim to see
And walk in His statues and keep
His commandments as this day’s reap.”

The king prays that all the world come to know
That You alone, Beloved, are God to show
In heaven above or in the earth beneath,
And that the trinity’s no god with teeth.
That knowledge alone can keep faithful in
The right path of good actions and not sin.
No doubt the preacher’s right who says that one
Cannot keep to Your law once said and done,
When faith is anchored on the fatal sand
Of three gods bound and sheltered in one band.
Let me, Beloved, look to You only and
Worship You as one God, not trinity,
And so I may hope that I shall be free
Of guilt before Your judgement seat and tree.

62 Then the king and all Israel too
With him offered sacrifice due
Before YHWH. 63 And Solomon came
To offer sacrifice of peace
Offerings he offered in YHWH’s name,
Twenty-two thousand bulls’ increase,
One hundred twenty thousand sheep.
So the king and all the folk deep
Of Israel dedicated
The house of YHWH, yes sir, they did.

I don’t know why the king was startled so
That he must offer so much as a show,
And kill so many animals that might
Have lived on under sun and in delight.
But he must have believed that You were best
Pleased by his offering of bulls and sheep blessed.
I rarely lift my hand to take the life
Of sheep in offering to You, despite strife,
And rarely cut a bull with a sharp knife.
And yet, Beloved, I pray my sacrifice
Is pleasing to You and You think it nice.
I have nothing in hand of blood and meat,
But myself only for a tasty treat
To set in offering by Your throne and feet.

1 KINGS 9

1 It happened Solomon had done
With the building of the house won
For YHWH, and the king’s house and all
That Solomon’s heart had in thrall,
2 That YHWH appeared to Solomon
The second time as on the run
He’d come to him at Gibeon.
3 And YHWH said to him, “I have heard
Your prayer and supplication’s word
That you made before Me, and I
Have hallowed this house by and by
That you have built, to put My name
On it forever, and the claim
Of My eyes and my heart shall be
There ever and perpetually.
4 And if you will walk before Me
As David Your father walked free
And in integrity of heart,
And in uprightness by your part
To do all I’ve commanded you,
And keep My statutes, judgements true,
5 Then I’ll establish your reign’s throne
On Israel for always alone
As I promised David your dad,
Saying ‘There’ll not fail any lad
Of you on Israel’s throne, be glad.’
6 But if you all turn back from Me
From following, posterity
Or you yourselves, and will not keep
My commandments and statutes steep
That I’ve set before you, but go
And serve other gods and for show
Bow down in prayer to them in tow,
7 Then I’ll cut off Israel out of
The land I’ve given them for love,
And this house I’ve made sacred to
My name I’ll cast out of my view,
And Israel shall be a proverb
And byword on all peoples’ curb.

The promise of the permanence of reign
Of David’s descendants here in the rain
Depends on each one toeing to the line
Of Your obedience and doing fine.
If anyone goes to the pagan floor
To open heathen goddesses the door
The kingdom’s forfeit. Some lived to relate
A story of indulgence of the fate
In worshipping the idols of the great.
Beloved, keep me within Your loving care
Not to worship the sprites that fill the air.
Perhaps the walking of kings is a thing
To be understood only by the king.
I’ve heard enough of them, enough to spare.

8 And at this house, which is so high
Every person that passes by
Shall be astonished and will hiss,
And they shall say ‘Now why is this
Done by YHWH to this land and house?’
9 “And they shall answer by the louse,
‘Because they forsook YHWH their God,
Who brought their fathers from the sod
Of Egypt and have taken hold
On other gods, and have been bold
To worship them and serve them, so
YHWH’s brought on them this evil show.’”

Many there be who worship other gods
Who have plenty of wealth and health in pods.
Perhaps You only mean the sacred few
Named of Israel must worship only You.
Perhaps it is Your will that demons take
Your throne of glory in the lapping wake
Of heathen temple, Christian church, in sum,
In many of the places I might come.
Beloved, though I am not one of the chosen,
And though I live a land where all is frozen,
I still bow at Your throne and take Your will
As expressed once on Sinaitic hill
To be my guide through fast arctic morass.
You’re just the only God’s got any class.

10 And so it happened when were done
Some twenty years, when Solomon
Had built the two houses, the house
Of YHWH as well as the king’s house,
11 Hiram the king of Tyre had made
Gift to Solomon of A grade
Cedar trees and fir trees and gold,
According to all his heart’s hold,
And so king Solomon gave to
Hiram twenty cities with crew
In the land of Galilee’s dew.
12 Hiram came out from Tyre to see
The cities Solomon gave free
To him, but they did not please him.
13 And he said “What cities for trim
Are these that you have given me,
My brother?” And he called the fee
The land of Cabul to this day.
14 And Hiram sent to the king gold,
A hundred twenty talents cold.

I wonder what Hiram’s guess then had been
When he got from Solomon’s hand his kin
In twenty towns of misery and poor.
At least it didn’t cause a war, that’s sure.
The wily Danite who ruled on the earth
And over shipyards to see things of worth
Was not impressed with Galilee from where
His fathers had come to the coast to bear
The weight of civilization’s grand fare.
I’d think the memory of old times there
Would strike a cord of nostalgic acclaim.
Nor Solomon nor Hiram is to blame.
Beloved, give me a wicked stick once laid
In wilderness where my ancestors played.

15 This is the reason for the tax
Which king Solomon raised like axe
To build the house of YHWH and his
Own house, and Millo, and that is
The wall of Jerusalem, and
Hazor, and Megiddo, and land
Of Gezer. 16 Pharaoh Egypt’s king
Had gone up and then taken wing
Of Gezer and burned it with fire
And killed the Canaanites with ire
That lived in the city and gave
It as a gift to daughter grave
Who was Solomon’s wife, not slave.
17 And Solomon built Gezer and
Bethhoron the lower in land,
18 And Baalath and Tadmore out in
The wilderness, Judah’s land’s bin.
19 And all the store cities that sat
In Solomon’s possession at
The cities for his chariots, and
The cities for his horsemen’s hand,
And what Solomon wished to build
In Jerusalem and to gild,
And in Lebanon, and in all
The land that was under his thrall.
20 All the folk left of Amorites,
Hittites, Perizzites, and Hivites,
And Jebusites, such as were not
Of Israel’s children and their plot,
21 Their descendants left after them
In the land, whom by stratagem
Israel’s folk also were not able
To destroy completely in stable,
On those did Solomon lay down
A tax of service still renown.

In early times the practice should have been
To destroy Amorite with kith and kin.
Now that the kingdom’s sure there is no need
To slaughter in a bloodier stampede
A folk that can as well serve lowly deed
And give the free-born whom to lord upon.
I’m one of those left over from the slaughter
Of native sons caught up beyond the water,
Surviving because some of mine were wise
Enough to be servants to the new guys
And show them how to range the mountain ways.
Their service gave me breath in later days.
Beloved, the cycle of the human breath
Is far more wonderful than its mere death.

22 But of the sons of Israel
Solomon made no slave to tell,
But they were men of war to serve,
And his princes, captains with verve,
And rulers of his chariots,
And his horsemen who called the shots.
23 These were the chief of officers
That were over Solomon’s stirs,
Five hundred and fifty who bare
Rule over the folk who worked there.
24 But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out
Of David’s city to her stout
House which he had built for her, then
He had built Millo in the glen.

Beloved, I wait alone in Bethlehem
For Your call to live in Jerusalem.
I make my patient days in beauty fall
Upon the hills where shepherds their sheep call
To wander in search of a leaf to chew.
I look upon the bright jewels of dew
That stud my mornings as I wait for You.
Beloved, I hear the tidings sent to town
From the heights of Zion come floating down,
And in mind’s eye see mansions on the crown
Of the fortress, I see their glory’s dress.
Beloved, from my window here I confess
Your lovely plans to bring me to Your heart.
I see on the horizon Zion’s start.

25 Three times a year did Solomon
Offer burnt offerings under sun
And peace offerings on altar which
He built to YHWH and burnt like pitch
Incense upon the altar too,
The altar that was before YHWH
So he finished up the house too.
26 King Solomon built a fleet too,
In Eziongeber a ships’ fleet,
Which is beside Eloth at feet
Of the shore of the Red sea’s beat,
In the land of Edom’s retreat.
27 And Hiram sent his servants in
The navy, shipmen who could win
In knowledge of the sea along
With Solomon’s servant in strong.
28 And they came to Ophir and got
From there gold, four hundred in pot
And twenty talents and they brought
It to king Solomon in lot.

Beloved, I too have walked the pebbled shore
Of Eilat and heard sounds about, the roar
Of airplanes coming in to park above
The place where Solomon’s ships used to shove.
I’ve swum about the limpid waters there
And looked up to the hillsides yellow bare
And wondered of the days when Solomon
Was king over all things under this sun.
Beloved, I’ve seen the fishes on the reef
Shine in the colours of rainbow relief,
And wisely sink to find their place and room
While I think of time and all things in doom.
Beloved, the king is gone, and yet there’s here
The crowd of those who still hold him in fear.

1 KINGS 10

1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard
Of Solomon’s fame and the word
Concerning the name of YHWH, she
Came to test him questioningly.
2 And she came to Jerusalem
With a great caravan in stem,
With camels bearing spices and
Very much gold and in her hand
Precious stones, and when she had come
To Solomon, she told in sum
Everything that was in her heart.
3 And Solomon answered with art
All her questions, and there was not
A thing hidden from the king’s lot
He did not tell her on the spot.

This is no proof of wisdom, it is not!
The fact the woman flattered whom she sought
Shows rather hormones riding high and full,
The Solomon I see here’s just a bull
That nuzzles the cow in rut when she comes
With caravan, camel and sugar-plums.
Speak to me not of wisdom when the gate
Of pasture’s been left open and of late
The cattle’s mixed and freely gone to mate.
Beloved, the wisdom here is all Your own,
Creation’s wonders spread before Your throne,
And all the coloured wings of peacock grown
To flash a brilliant gash beneath the leaves.
In Holland Park one finds such wisdom’s sleeves.

4 And when the queen of Sheba saw
All Solomon’s wisdom with awe,
And the house that he had built there,
5 And on his table the fine fare,
And all his servants sitting there,
Attendance of his ministers,
And their fine clothing, and who stirs
His cup, and the burnt offering which
He offered in YHWH’s house in pitch,
It took her breath away in stitch.

I’ll bet the offering took her breath away.
No wonder those who edited the way
Of Torah limited the sacrifice
In Your name to merely the once or twice
On Sabbath day for double duty’s splice.
The thousands of cattle that dripped their blood
Must have disengorged before eye in flood
Enough to blind the queen of Sheba too.
I’ll bet the offering was too much for You.
David himself, when he stepped out to bring
The ark to his city to praise and sing
Slaughtered each six paces his offering.
Beloved, though stingy Scotsman, without sheep
I bring myself to You for You to keep.

6 She said to the king, “It was true
What I heard in my land of you,
And of your acts and wisdom due.
7 “But I did not believe the word
Until I came and saw and heard,
And yet it seems the half was not
Told me, the wisdom of your lot
And wealth is greater than the fame
Of what I had heard in your name.
8 “Blessed are your folk, blessed are the ones
Who serve you standing there like suns
Before you to hear your wisdom.
9 “Blessed be YHWH your Ælohim come
To delight in you, to set you
On the throne of Israel’s crew,
Because YHWH loved Israel for aye,
He made you king and that is why
You do judgement and justice ply.”

No doubt the queen of Sheba can’t be wrong
That You placed Solomon above the throng
To reign in justice and do judgement right.
No doubt You set Solomon up in sight.
Your great desire to bring into the world
A wise and righteous rule is what unfurled
The flag of Solomon upon the shore
Of Ophir and of Tarshish what is more.
And yet if You set Solomon to reign,
And many say you depose and make sane
The rulers of the earth and others lift,
I have trouble to follow in Your drift.
Beside Solomon few have lived to share
The throne with justice, all people beware.

10 She gave the king a hundred and
Twenty talents of fine gold and
Of spices a very great store,
And precious stones, until no more
Such abundance of spice was seen
As these brought him by Sheba’s queen
To give to Solomon the king.
11 Hiram’s fleet too in underling
Brought gold from Ophir, and brought from
Ophir much sandal-wood in sum,
And precious stones. 12 And the king made
Of sandal-wood the pillars stayed
For the house of YHWH and for yet
The king’s house, harps also to get
And psalteries for singers, there
Was never such sandal-wood bare
Seen ever to this day for share.
13 King Solomon gave to the queen
Of Sheba all she wished on scene,
Whatever she asked, besides what
Solomon gave her of his shut
Royal bounty. So she turned and
Went to her own country and land,
She and all of her servant band.

King Solomon got the greatest stud fee
Of any stallion in earth’s history.
The gold does not raise my interest at all,
But sandal-wood for harps I find to call
My heart to waken, and the psalteries sound.
Rutting is turned both civilized, profound.
The glory of king Solomon and queen
Of Sheba is brighter than any seen,
And even to the days when Italy
Ran over Cush for Christianity,
The efforts of the king and queen were still
Rampant in cave and upon holy hill.
Beloved, I smell the sandal-wood’s perfume
In psalm and proverb still to lighten gloom.

14 The weight of gold that came each year
To Solomon was six hundred
Sixty-six talents of gold spread,
15 Besides what he had in the gear
Of merchants and of traffic of
The spice merchants as well as of
All the kings of Arabia,
The rulers of the land in awe.

The Arab’s kingdoms in those days of yore
Sent Solomon his tribute to the shore
Of Eilat and by camel train as far
As David’s castle, donkey cart and car.
How long has desert love come down to bear
The spices and the gold and more to share
In faith and love to You, Beloved, since then!
Your light pours into opened hearts of men
And women from Hagar’s loins and the sweet
Isaac’s hopes in the brotherly retreat.
Today as then the choice before the world
Lies glorious and fresh as just unfurled:
We might praise You in gold and costly scent,
Or turn to blood and slaughter with heart bent.

17 Three hundred shields of beaten gold,
In each shield three pounds of fine gold,
And the king placed them in the house
Of Lebanon’s forest to grouse.
18 The king made a great ivory throne,
And overlaid with gold like stone.
19 The throne had six steps and the top
Of the throne round behind to stop,
And there were stays on either side,
On the place of the seat, abide
Two lions standing on stays’ side.
20 Twelve lions stood there on one side
And on the other, on six steps,
There was not the like any reps
In all the kingdom to reside.

Beloved, who are the twelve with lions’ mane?
Who are the dear and lovely ones that reign
About the throne of Solomon to see
The cycles of despair in history?
Say not a glowing word, Beloved, to me!
I know the names and faces of the free,
I see their shadows fleeting on the cast
Of politics and murder going past,
I see them rein the bloodlust and the gore,
I see them hold the winds of strife once more,
Though every man despair of faith and hope
Within this kingdom of gentry and pope.
Beloved, the lovely twelve still range in one
Guided fire glowing fiercely in the sun.

21 And all king Solomon’s cups were
Vessels of gold, and all that were
Vessels of the house of the wood
Of Lebanon as pure gold could,
None were of silver, it was naught
Accounted in Solomon’s plot.

To eat or drink from gold is not allowed
By the divine law that now binds the proud,
And yet some follow sunnat of the lord
Solomon in eating if not in sword.
I’ve seen the golden dish and the abhorred,
I’ve seen the jewelled spoon upon the board,
And still I turn away and touch the wood
And leafy clay to eat now as I should.
Let me, Beloved, drink from bejewelled cup
The day when I arise at last, look up
To find Ali extending drought to me
From Kauthar on the shore of Eden’s tree.
Better than Solomon’s gold chalice and
Better than anything found in this land.

22 For the king had a fleet at sea
At Tharshish with Hiram’s to be,
Every three years the navy came
From Tharshish bringing in the claim
Of gold and silver, ivory and
Apes and peacocks on every hand.

Hold, wait a minute, my Beloved, tell me
What need had Solomon, even on spree,
For apes? I understand the peacock’s call.
But what of apes against the marbled wall?
If one ape or a family at best
Is needed for amusement and not pest,
Then why the need each year to bring the rest?
There’s something fishy that I haven’t guessed.
I’ve heard an ape can do a chore or two,
But I’d think slaves and servants in the pew
Would be a better sight and for the cost
Better investment on the money lost.
Beloved, give me no apes in an advance
On wisdom, wealth and long life in my pants.

23 King Solomon was richer far
Than all the kings of earth in car
Of wealth and wisdom popular.
24 All the world came to Solomon
To hear his wisdom which was done
By Ælohim set in his heart.
25 And every man brought him his gift,
Vessels of silver and to lift
Vessels of gold and clothing and
Armour and spice as well as grand
Horses and mules year after year,
Such was Solomon’s wealth and gear.

Today Your planted and appointed one
Invisibly guides kingdoms that were won
By sword and deceit all spoken in fun.
The visible and righteous head of state
Drew all men to his judgement hall and plate
To hear justice commended on the pate
Of every wanton lady and her mate.
But such things today never can be done.
Beloved, in days gone past, despite the hate
And slaughter that was rife on every hand,
Justice awakened respect in the fanned
By ancient breezes. Today it’s not so.
If Your appointed dared to make a show
Elected chiefs would deal him a death blow.

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.

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html