ESTHER CHAPTER 1 - 8

BOOK OF ESTHER

Esther’s place in the canon has been questioned by many, not least of all Luther. The foundation for such animosity is manifold: the book does not mention the name of God in the Hebrew portions, it is thoroughly and unashamedly racist, and it includes heathen overtones. It could easily be maintained that its only claim to canonicity is in the fact that it shows how not to behave. It is included here because of its strong historical claim to canonicity, its formal acceptance of divine law, and its value as a contemplative text. It is also eminently of value in showing to what depths of moral degradation the supposedly chosen of God may fall as they attempt to live under imperialism.

The thoughtful reader comparing the actions of Judith and Esther will ponder that Esther did intentionally what Judith only risked. The case is extreme, but the principle arises as soon as empire meets faith: at what point is it permissible, even a duty, to break the holy commandment? Judith chose to kill, while Esther chose to ignore chastity. Both had a choice. One is so inured to killing in the Scripture, that it is easy to forget that Esther’s lack of chastity is balanced by her refusal to kill with her own hand. And yet her action led to the slaughter of thousands, even if such slaughter prevented the killing of multitudes more.

The major difference between Esther and Judith is in the area of heathen and idolatrous features. The book of Judith is devoid of them. They creep out everywhere in the book of Esther. The lesson to be drawn is no doubt that constant contact with an idolatrous empire is bound to have its effect. Yet Esther ingenuously claims that the king’s bed was abhorrent to her.

ESTHER 1

1 Now in Ahasuerus’ days,
This was Ahasuerus’ plays
To reign over one hundred and
Twenty-seven regions of land
From India to the land of Cush,
2 When Ahasuerus the king
Sat on his kingdom’s throne on wing
Of Shushan the fortress, 3 that in
The third year since his powers begin,
He called a feast for all his chiefs
And servants, the princes of fiefs
In Persia and in Media,
The nobles and princes in awe
Before him, 4 while he showed the wealth
Of his kingdom in glorious stealth
And splendour of his majesty
For many days in all to be
One hundred added to eighty.
5 And when these set days were completed,
The king called a feast for all seated
In Shushan the fortress to last
Until seven full days had passed,
That great and small be summoned to
The court garden of king’s igloo.
6 White and blue linen caught in cords
Of fine linen and purple hordes
On silver rods and marble pillars,
Couches of gold, couches in sillers
Upon paved floor of alabaster,
Turquoise, white and black marble faster.
7 They drank from golden cups and each
Cup was unique, and above reach
The royal wine accordingly
As royal generosity.
8 By law the drinking was not forced,
For so the king ordered endorsed
The chiefs of his economy
To do as each man’s pleasure be.

While wine seems to be order of the day
For six full months in pleasure’s eager sway,
The law is none should be forced in the way
He drank, but each could save himself to be
Free of intoxication’s ugly spree.
The text does not say how many men there
Refrained from gorging themselves on the ware,
And I doubt that the number was as great
As ought to be upon a righteous slate.
Beloved, I marvel that the men of state
Have time to guzzle wine for six months straight,
But think it must be You behind the scenes
To encourage their drinking on their beans.
It kept them out of harm from killing’s rate.

9 Queen Vashti also made a feast
For the women and undecreased
Within the regal palacing
Of Ahasuerus the king.
10 Upon the seventh day and when
The king’s heart was rejoiced again
With wine, he commanded his men,
The seven eunuchs Mehuman,
Biztha, Harbona and as ran,
Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and
Carcas, who served in present band
Before Ahasuerus king,
11 To bring Queen Vashti in to sing
Before the king with regal crown,
To show her beauty to the town
Of folk and chiefs for she was sight
Of beauty to behold in light.
12 But Queen Vashti refused to come
At the king’s order by the sum
Of eunuchs, so the king was mad
And anger burned within him bad.
13 Then the king said to the wise men
Who understood signs as again
The king was wont to do with all
Who knew law and justice by call,
14 Those closest to him seven in all
Carshena, Shethar, Admatha,
Tarshish, Meres, and Marsena,
And Memucan, the Persian princes
And Median ones too in their minces,
Who stood before the king in sight
Ranked highest in the kingdom’s right.

The Persian way of doing things it seems
Was in the rate of seven under dreams,
And seven wise men stood to counsel king,
And seven princes answered everything.
The hidden number seven of perfection
Is sum of four and three in their selection,
And hides within them multiplied to twelve
Which is the outer showing, one must delve
To find the mystic seven and be late.
So Shi’ite is divided in the rate
Of Ismailis in sevens’ mystic state
And Twelvers for the outer sign to men
That You, Beloved, add sign to sign again
In hidden sevens by twelves shining great.

15 “What must be done now to the queen,
Vashti, by law, because she’s been
Rebellious to command of king
Ahasuerus by the wing
Of eunuchs?” 16 Memucan
Answered before king and each man,
“Queen Vashti has not only wronged
The king but also princes thronged
And all the folk in every part
Of King Ahasuerus’ mart.
17 “For the queen’s action will be known
To every women from the throne
Down to the least to despise own
Husband in sight when they report
‘King Ahasuerus and for sport
Commanded Queen Vashti to be
Brought before him for all to see
But she did not obey decree.’
18 “Today already ladies of
Persia and Media without love
Will say to all the king’s chiefs that
They’ve heard of the queen’s actions pat.
So very much contempt once born
Will fill the land with wrath and scorn.
19 “May it please the king to decree
From himself and in royalty
To be set in the Persian laws
And that of Medes unaltered clause,
That Vashti shall no longer come
Before King Ahasuerus’ bum,
And let the king give queenly place
To someone else better in face.
20 “When the king’s law is made and published
Throughout all his empire unrubblished,
All wives will have their lords in store
Of honour, both great and small bore.”
21 The answer pleased both king and prince,
And so the king without a wince
Did as Memucan said and more.
22 He sent letter to all the lands
Of the king’s sway to each as stands
In its own written language and
To every folk in their own brand
Of speech so every man might be
Master of his own house and fee,
And speak the language of his own
Home and folk where he had been grown.

Is woman so strong in her own defence
That even kings must publish decrees’ vents
To save their dignity and power to say
When women must uncover, sing and sway?
The vying for the power to say and do
Between the sexes in the Persian crew
Is but reflection of the eastern world
From Ireland to Nippon in flag unfurled.
Beloved, give me the tribal way that knows
That woman has the power of hand and rose,
The wisdom to reject of what she chose,
The heart to sing a battle and relent.
Beloved, fie on all kings that would prevent
The flourishing of female accident.

ESTHER 2

1 After these events when the wrath
Of King Ahasuerus’ path
Was appeased, he remember Queen
Vashti and what she did on scene
And what he had decreed for her.
2 Then the kings servants to deter
Him said “Let beautiful young things
Be sought out for the king’s viewings.
3 “And let the king set chiefs in all
The kingdom’s provinces to call
Together all beautiful young
Virgins to Shushan and the sung
Fortress, into the women’s house,
Under the caretaker of spouse,
Hegai the king’s eunuch. And let
Cosmetologists get them set.
4 “Then may the young girl that most pleases
The king be queen for Vashti’s cheeses.”
This word rejoiced the king and so
He did as they came up to show.
5 In Shushan fortress city there
Lived a certain Jew whose name’s share
Was Mordecai son of Jair,
The son of Shimei, son of Kish,
A Benjamite as one could wish,
6 Who had been carried out in hem
Of captives from Jerusalem
Captured with Jeconiah king
Of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar
The king of Babylon made sneezer.
7 And he had raised Hadassah, called
Esther, his uncle’s daughter stalled,
For she had neither dad nor mom.
The young woman lovely as palm
Was beautiful. When her dad and
Mom died, Mordecai took hand
As his own daughter. 8 So it came
To pass, when the king’s word of fame
Was heard, and when many young girls
Gathered at Shushan’s fortress curls,
In care of Hegai, Esther too
Was taken to the king’s review,
In care of Hegai the caretaker
Of royal women, no mistaker.

Esther, the name of goddess in the sky,
The queen and star of ample myths and why,
Suggests the pagan search had all but left
The Jewish nation in the devil’s cleft.
When Christianity is glad to move
In circles of the heathen mind to prove,
It is no wonder, since the root is caught
In pagan dreams of honey and the pot.
Beloved, though the sweet Hadassah is great
To serve her people and the Persian state,
That service would be just as suspect now
As service to Iran would anyhow.
The seedbed of both faith and vanity,
Iran arises still and land to see.

9 Now the damsel pleased him, and she
Gained his favour, so readily
He gave her cosmetics beside
Her own allowance for the ride.
And seven fine maidservants still
Were provided to fit her bill
From the king’s palace, and he moved
Her and her maidens to the grooved
Best of the women’s house to fill.
10 Esther had not revealed her folk
Or family, for at a stroke
Mordecai told her not to do.
11 And every day Mordecai’s view
Was in front of the women’s court
To hear of Esther’s good report
And what happened to her in fort.
12 Each young woman’s turn came to go
To King Ahasuerus’ show
After completing twelve month’s row
In readiness, according to
The statutes of women in view,
For that is how their readiness
Was set, six months with oil of myrrh,
Six months with perfumes to incur
For beautifying women’s fur.
13 So the young women joined the king
And each was given everything
That she desired to take with her
From the women’s quarters to spur
To house and palace of the king.
14 In the evening she went, and in
The morning she returned to spin
In the other house of females
Under care of Shaashgaz’s sails,
The king’s eunuch who kept the tales
Of concubines. And she would not
Go again unless the king sought
Her with delight and called her name.

The king must try each lady for her worth
A night before he makes his choice on earth.
After the math the lady finds her berth
In women’s house, no more to see the face
Of husband and the master of the race.
How many concubines were taken for
The king to make up yet another store?
No one has counted them, for if he had
They would been named by a number sad.
Beloved, if Hadassah at last appears
Among the number of women’s arrears,
It is no sadder thing than what comes out
Of millions more who never learn to pout.
Submission is the game we’re all about.

15 Now when the turn came for the game
Esther daughter of Abihail
The uncle of Mordecai’s rail,
Who had taken her as his own
Daughter, to go in to the throne,
She asked for nothing but what the
King’s eunuch Hegai said in fee,
Who guarded the women with care.
Esther gained favour everywhere
From all who saw how she was fair.
16 So Esther was taken to King
Ahasuerus, in the wing
Of royal palace, on a day
In the tenth month, the month then called
Tebeth, in seventh year installed
Of his reign. 17 The king loved Esther
More than all women, and gave her
More grace and favour in his sight
More than all the virgins of light,
And set the royal crown on her
And made her queen in Vashti’s right.

By refusing the geste of king and crown
To have whatever gifts there be in town,
Esther gained all the coveted renown.
Remembering the wealthy are the most
Satisfied for the economic toast,
She did not take a thread beyond the cream
She needed once to fulfil the king’s dream.
Beloved, I take no presents from Your hand
Beyond what You offer in contraband,
No gold, no gems, no silver, and no oil,
Nothing at all beyond the joy of toil.
And yet You pour upon my livid soul
Celestial pleasures unknown in the toll,
To be at one with You beyond the goal.

18 And so the king made a great feast,
The Feast of Esther, and increased
To all his chiefs and servants, and
Proclaimed a holiday in band
Of provinces and he gave gifts
As royally as custom lifts.
19 When virgins were gathered again
A second time, Mordecai then
Sat at the king’s gate as in den.
20 Esther had not revealed her roots
And her folk, as Mordecai’s boots
Had ordered her, Esther obeyed
Mordecai’s word as when she stayed
With him and daughter as she played.

The worth of taqiyya is a life saved
By keeping quiet for the thing she braved.
So Esther finds her secret does her well
Not to reveal her roots in Israel.
The generations of my fathers past
Held secrets that could last as long as last,
But when I heard them tooted in the blast
I kept no mouth shut for the fear of class.
Beloved, my heritage is hidden now
And revealed in the DNA somehow,
So none can pretend other than the cow
And bull by the horns for a green morass.
Let Esther and the Persian king play fair
And spread their children out and everywhere.

21 In those days, while Mordecai
Sat in the king’s gate, two of sly
Eunuchs of the king, Bigthan and
Teresh, doorkeepers, would lay hand
Conspiring on Ahasuerus
The king who had not learned to fear us.
22 But the matter had come to light
To Mordecai, who told outright
Queen Esther, and Esther let know
The king in Mordecai’s name’s show.
23 After investigation it
Was confirmed and both came up fit
To hang on gallows, it was writ
In book of chronicles before
The sight of the king on their score.

The Jew that sits beside the gate to hear
Says not a word to any in the ear,
But only watches and listens to know
What information may save on the go
The life of himself and his family’s show.
The Jew must always be a clever chap
To hear about any coming mishap.
He must not trust to chance or even You,
But has to be about ready to do.
Beloved, if I had made a world once too,
I would have filled it with more Jews a few,
At least enough to balance out the hate
That hounds Your justice in the pagan state,
And makes the world a poverty in view.

ESTHER 3

1 After this King Ahasuerus
Promoted Haman, none to fear us,
The son of Hammedatha and
An Agagite, and gave command
Above all princes in the land.
2 And all the king’s servants within
The king’s gate bowed and in their sin
Paid homage to Haman, for so
The king had ordered for the show.
But Mordecai would not bow
Or pay him homage anyhow.
3 Then the king’s servants there within
King’s gate told Mordecai’s grin,
“Why do you break the king’s command?”
4 It happened, when they told him daily
And he did not listen to scaly,
They informed Haman, just to see
What Mordecai’s words would be,
For he’d let them know he was Jewish.
5 When Haman saw that he was shrewish
Not to bow or pay his respect,
Haman was filled with wrath unwrecked.
6 He did not care to attack just
Mordecai, since they had been fussed
To tell him of Mordecai’s folk.
So instead Haman at a stroke
Decided to kill all the Jews
Throughout the whole land that accrues
To King Ahasuerus’ views.
Even all Modecai’s folk’s crews.

The point of the neglect is point of law.
No one should bow down to a man in awe,
But to You only, so the sinful way
Of Mordecai was one in Your pay.
True faith will always rouse the heathen ire,
So Mordecai did right in desire
That Esther not bear record to the king
Of her roots in the fatal Jewish thing.
If the king thought the lady that he got
Was Persian, I’d think he was in the plot
To blind himself, because like it or not
The ethnic difference that’s not of choice
Always appears in sight and sound and voice.
It’s always shown at last in what we sing.

7 In the first month, which is that called
Nisan, in the twelfth year installed
Of King Ahasuerus, they
Cast lots before Haman to say
The day and month until it fell
On the twefth, month of Adar’s spell.
8 Haman told King Ahasuerus,
“There is a certain people scattered
Dispersed among the folk that mattered
In all the regions of your land,
Their laws are different from command
Of other folks, they do not keep
The king’s commandments when they reap.
That’s why it’s not proper the king
Should let them stay among living.
9 “If it delight the king, then let
It be written that bayonet
Destroy them, and I will pay out
Ten thousand silver talents’ clout
Unto the powers who do the task
Brought in the king’s treasure-house flask.”
10 So the king took his signet ring
From his hand and gave it to sting
By Haman, son of Hammedatha
The Agagite and maranatha,
The sworn enemy of the Jews.
11 And the king said for Haman news,
“The funds and personnel are yours,
To do with them by your own chores.”
12 Then the king’s scribes were called upon
The thirteenth day of first month’s dawn,
And a writ by all Haman said
To the king’s satraps to be read,
To governors of each province,
To every people’s standing prince,
To every province by the writ,
To every folk in their tongue fit.
In name of King Ahasuerus
It was written, and sealed to fear us
With the king’s signet ring and bit.

The enemy of Jew and faithful will
Always pretend an innocence to fill
The world with lawful justice when he finds
A chance to blind the legislators’ minds.
When the week is cast as beginning on
The Monday at twelve midnight, then the dawn
Of persecution of the Sabbath keeper
Is already in sight of every reaper.
If anyone stand up to point to fact
That holocaust continues in the act
He’s tooted as fanatic and war-monger,
No matter how benign he show his hunger.
Beloved, curse every cur uncircumcised
Pretending to make law here ill-advised.

13 Epistles sent by runners all
Into the king’s provinces’ hall,
To destroy, kill, and liquidate
All the Jews, both young and old rate,
Little children and women too,
On one day, on the thirteenth view
Of the twelfth month which is Adar,
To take booty of gear and car.
14 A copy of the decree sent
By law to every province went
Published for all the people to
Be ready for that day and crew.
15 The runners went out quickly by
The king’s command, and the decree
Was published in Shushan the fort.
So the king and Haman in sport
Sat down to drink, but the city
Of Shushan was perplexed to see.

The king was not really so innocent
As he pretends, though ignorant and bent.
After enforcing holocaust renewed
The rulers sit down to enjoy the brewed.
The civilized effect of Roman law
Is to hit Sabbath-keeper in the jaw,
And there is never peace until the feud
Remove uncircumcised as well as crude.
Beloved, I see around me everywhere
The trinkets of unlovely and the heir
Of heathen poetry and law and term
That drives the world into the jungle squirm
Denying Your commandments to insist
Love unconditional’s no evil twist.

ESTHER 4

1 When Mordecai found out what
Had happened, he tore his clothes, but
Put on sackcloth and ashes, and
Went out into the city sand.
He cried aloud with bitter voice.
2 He came before the king’s own choice
Gate, but not inside it because
Nobody goes in by king’s laws
Dressed in sackcloth. 3 In every place
Where the king’s decree came to trace,
Great mourning rose among the Jews,
With fasting, weeping in their pews,
Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 But Esther’s maids and eunuch dashes
Came and told her, the queen in sashes
Was much distressed. She sent in flashes
Clothes to put on Mordecai
And take his sackcloth from him spry,
But he would not accept the try.
5 Then Esther called Hathach, one of
The king’s eunuchs whom he in love
Appointed to take care of her,
And she ordered him in command
About Mordecai in hand
To learn the what and why in brand.
6 Hathach went to Mordecai
In the town plaza and just shy
Of the king’s front gate by and by.
7 And Mordecai told him all
That happened to him at the ball,
And how much money Haman said
He’d put in the king’s treasure-bed
To liquidate the Jews well-bred.

The reason anybody comes to kill
Jews is not for the anti-semite swill,
But simply as a matter of the money
Involved in such affairs, it isn’t funny.
The economic theory of the Czar
Was always steady as the polar star:
When things went wrong in economic state
The fault he saw was always Jewish rate.
Beloved, the human mind is made of dollars
With no cents added to the higher callers.
The blue-eyed staff stand ready in the wings
To jive statistics with their numberings,
But in the end equation’s simply there:
Let Jews live only if they have the ware.

8 He also gave a copy of
The writ for their destruction’s shove,
Which was given at Shushan’s town,
To show to Esther with a frown
Explaining her that she should go
To plead with the king for her row.
9 Hathach returned and told Esther
The words of Mordecai sure.
10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and
Gave him a command for the stand
Of Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s
Servants and the folk of the king’s
Provinces know that any man
Or woman who goes without plan
Into the inner court in span
Before the king, who’s not been called,
The law is for the one appalled,
Put him to death, except the one
To whom the king holds not to shun
The golden sceptre, he may live.
And I’ve not been called in to give
Appearance before the king now
For these thirty days anyhow.”
12 So they told Mordecai what
Esther had said of the door shut.
13 And Mordecai told them to
Give this reply to Esther too:
“Don’t think in your heart you’ll escape
In the king’s palace under cape
Any more than all other Jews.
14 “For if you’re silent and refuse
Now, salvation will truly come,
But through another one in sum,
And you and your dad’s house are done.
Yet who knows whether you have run
Into the kingdom for this time?”

The accusation of her cousin shows
The way the human mind forever goes:
Some think the others neglect justice rows
Because they are not threatened on their toes.
Truth is that sometimes money talks so loud
That life can be safe in the motley crowd,
And Esther may have been right if she thought
Herself safe in the palace garden plot.
But Mordecai has an argument
Well-sounded in the gatehouse and the tent,
That politics and love for all their glint
Can turn the tables quickly on the mint.
Beloved, I too am in the kingdom here,
But have no power to inform on the ear.

15 Then Esther told them to give back
An answer to Mordecai:
16 “Go, gather all the Jews on track
In Shushan, and fast for my try,
Neither to eat nor drink for three
Days, night or day. My maids and I
Will also fast. And so I’ll flee
To the king, though against the law,
And if I die, I’ll die in awe!”
17 So Mordecai went his way
And did what Esther came to say.

Fasting and prayer are very ways to make
One stop and think the best way at the stake.
So Esther had her cousin go around
And fill the ears of everyone with sound
Of fasting and of prayer against mistake.
The many lifting voices in the gloom
Ought to at last avert the sombre doom,
And turn the legislators’ eye upon
Injustice they would inflict on the fawn.
Fact is, Beloved, that prayer and fasting here
Prove of no effect in the glittered ear
Of president and businessman to glut,
And justice is a door that’s always shut.
You rarely enter where some weep and fear.

ESTHER 5

1 It took place on the third day then
That Esther clothed in damascen
Stood in the inner royal court
Across from the king’s house to sport,
While the king sat on kingly throne
In royal palace towards the gate.
2 So when the king saw her come late,
Queen Esther standing in the court,
She found his favour and his sport,
The king extended in his hand
To Esther golden scepter’s band.
So Esther approaching, she touched
The top of the sceptre he clutched.
3 And the king said to her, “What do
You wish, Queen Esther? What’s your cue?
It shall be given to you now
Up to half of the kingdom’s vow!”
4 Then Esther answered, “If it please
The king, let the king and the sleeze
Haman come today to banquet
That I’ve prepared for him and set.”
5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman fast,
To do as Esther’s word has cast.”
So the king and Haman went to
The banquet Esther put in view.
6 At the banquet of wine the king
Said to Esther, “What is your thing?
It shall be granted you. Just ask
Up to half of the kingdom’s task!”
7 Then Esther answered and she said,
“My request and desire of dread,
8 “If I’ve found favour in the sight
Of the king, and the king delight
To grant petition and fulfil
My longing, then let the king still
Come with Haman to feast again
With me tomorrow, I shall then
Do as the king has said with skill.”

It’s merely formal courtesy to say
That half the kingdom will be given away.
The Persian is a master of the stroke
Of language so polite a man could choke.
But this expression’s found in every place
That nature takes a back seat in the race
With cultivation of the human face.
Beloved, I come to You with my petition,
With praise and plaint and in heart-felt contrition
My penitence to find Your sceptre swung
In love to hear the offering of my tongue.
The earthly king’s no better than You are
In handing empty hands a golden star,
And You accept no beauty from afar.

9 Haman went out that day with joy
And with a glad heart to employ.
When Haman saw Mordecai
In the king’s gate, how he did not
Stand or tremble before his lot,
He was furious against the sot.
10 Still Haman controlled himself and
Went home, and sent and called the band
Of his friends and his wife Zeresh.
11 Then Haman told them all out fresh
Of his great wealth and children fine,
All the king did in fair design
Raising him up and setting far
Above the chiefs’ and servants’ car
Of the Persian king aquiline.
12 And Haman said, “Besides, Queen Esther
Invited no one but me bester
To come in with the king to feast
With her, and tomorrow increased
I and the king are her guests leased.
13 “All this is nothing to my tongue
As long as I see on the rung
At the king’s gate Mordecai
The Jew sitting under my eye.”
14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends
Said to him, “Let to make amends
A gallows be erected high
Of fifty armlengths in the sky,
And in the morning ask the king
To hand Mordecai on wing
Of it, then happily go in
With the king to the banquet din.”
That pleased Haman, who in a trice
Set up gallows of sacrifice.

Who rejoice in the invitation set
By Jewess or her husband in the bet
And love attention and the royal call,
Can at a wifely word go out of hall
And raise a gallows for the sacred neck
That kept Your justice despite hand and beck
To the oppression of the populace
Crowded in more than one hundred of place.
Beloved, I see the hypocritic stance
Among decision-makers when they dance.
Just policy is simple as a prance:
Obey the ten commandments and rely
On You alone, not on corporate spy
And legal banking fraud uncaught and sly.

ESTHER 6

1 That night the king just could not sleep.
So he ordered to bring from keep
The book of records of the times
To read before the king in rhymes.
2 And it was found there written that
Mordecai had informed that
Bigthana and Teresh, two of
The king’s eunuchs, doorkeepers’ glove,
Had tried assassinating once
King Ahasuerus like dunce.
3 Then the king asked, “What honour paid
Or dignity has been displayed
On Mordecai for the raid?”
And the king’s servants in the place
Said “Nothing’s been done to his face.”
4 And the king said, “Who’s in the court?”
But Haman had just come in sport
Into the outer palace court
Of the king to ask in resort
To hang Mordecai upon
The gallows he’d prepared at dawn.
5 The king’s servants said to him then,
“Haman is there, standing again
In the court.” And the king said, “Let
Him come in, he can say, I’ll bet.”
6 So Haman came in, and the king
Asked him, “What shall be done, what thing
For the man whom the king delights
To honour?” Haman had in sights,
“Whom would the king delight to praise
More than me only all his days?”
7 So Haman replied to the king,
“For the one man to whom the king
Delights to give honour, 8 “now let
A royal robe be brought from set
Worn by the king, and a horse on
Which the king has ridden, and on
Which has been set the royal crest.
9 “Then let this robe and horse be taken
In hand of one most noble shaken
Of the king’s princes to be dressed
As the man the king would have blessed,
And lead him in parade on horse
Through the square of the town of course
And make a proclamation go
Before him ‘It shall be done so
To the man whom the king would show
His honour!’” 10 Then the king said to
Haman, “Be quick, take robe and do
With the horse, as you have said to,
And for Mordecai the Jew
Who sits in the king’s gate in view!
Leave nothing undone of all you
Have spoken to perform on cue.”

You have a bit of humour in the way
You prepare the downfall of human sway,
And since a thousand years is like day
For You, the two centuries of empires’ ray
Is just amusement of a few hours’ play.
You are a child that sits alone to see
The toy soldiers in Your sandbox with glee
Mount on the hills and roads Your eager hand
Has moulded in the barely dampened sand.
Beloved, when mother calls, You in a rush
Kick over the bright castles in the hush
Of noon and leave the soldiers scattered wide
Upon the bloody heath and stones to bide.
You are an autocratic God to hide.

11 So Haman took the robe and horse,
Dressed Mordecai for the course
And led him on horseback throughout
The city square, proclaimed with shout
Before him, “Thus shall it be done
To the man who with honour’s won
The king’s delight and benison!”
12 After that Mordecai went
Back to the king’s gate to prevent.
But Haman hurried to his house,
Mourning with head covered to spouse.
13 When Haman told his wife Zeresh
And all his friends what happened fresh,
His wise men and his wife Zeresh
Said to him, “If Mordecai,
Before whom you’ve begun to die,
Is of Jewish descent, you’ll not
Gain upper hand that you have sought
But surely will fall in his plot.”
14 While they were still talking with him,
The king’s eunuchs came to take trim
And bring Haman into the feast
That Esther had made for the beast.

The friends and wives are caught up in dumb fate,
With hearts left cold and fearful in the wait.
They understand that there’s no human choice:
The gods determine everything with voice
Unchangeable by supplication’s prayer,
Immoveable beneath oppressing air.
The will divine is cast without a word
Of explanation for the thing occurred.
Beloved, I step out on the freedom set
In each new morning, and in visions get
Exhilarating stations above cloud,
Feet crunching on the hopes of milling crowd.
Whatever gallows waits my coming morn,
Today I have the slate of the newborn.

ESTHER 7

1 So the king and Haman went out
To dine with Queen Esther about.
2 And on the second day at feast
The king again asked Esther triste,
“What’s your request, Queen Esther? It
Shall be granted to you as fit.
And what is your petition’s tale?
Up to half the kingdom in scale,
It shall be done! Just mention it.”
3 Then Queen Esther answered and said,
“If I’ve found favour by you led,
O king, and if it please the king,
Let my life be given me in wing,
And my folk as petition’s thing.
4 “For we’ve been sold, my folk and I,
To be destroyed, killed on the sly,
And liquidated under sky.
Had we been sold as slaves, then I
Would not have opened mouth to cry,
Although the foe could never pay
For the king’s loss upon that day.”
5 So King Ahasuerus said
In answer to Queen Esther sped,
“Who is he, and where is he, who
Dare presume in his heart to do
Such a thing to the queenly crew?”
6 And Esther said, “The enemy
And foe’s this wicked Haman, see!”
Haman was terrified before
The king and queen on that bad score.

Haman was sitting proud and glad beside
The Queen of Persia, knowing all was well
Because he had the fate of Israel
In hand, and soon the slaughter once applied
Would free him of the sneering of the snide
Jew sitting at the king’s gate for a spell
Each day to make his life a living hell.
Eating and drinking he could well abide.
The sudden sword fell on poor Haman’s pate
When least expected by the side of king,
Dining and looking pleased upon the queen.
The golden goblet tinkled on his plate,
In horror he looked round on everything,
And darkness overwhelmed the light he’d seen.

7 Then the king arose in his wrath
From the banquet of wine to path
The palace garden, but Haman
Stood before Queen Esther in plan
To plead for his life, for he saw
The doom determined by the claw
Of the king. 8 When the king returned
From the palace garden discerned
To the place of banquet of wine,
Haman had fallen to resign
Across the couch where Esther sat.
Then the king said, “Will he out flat
Also assault the queen while I
Am in the house?” As the words fly
From the king’s mouth, they covered face
Of Haman’s. 9 Harbonah in grace,
One of the eunuchs, told the king,
“Look, gallows fifty armlengths high
Haman made for Mordecai,
Who spoke good on the king’s behalf,
Standing at house of Haman’s gaff.”
So the king said, “Hang him on it!”
10 So they hanged Haman as was fit
On the gallows he had prepared
For Mordecai. Then was spared
The king’s anger that he had shared.

The Psalmist prays the snare be oft returned
Upon the pate of those for what they earned
In retribution. My Beloved, I too
Pray in the son of David’s famous cue
For enemy that faces me in pew.
I’ve seen from birth the success of the eye
Of wolf inspired by innocence and cry
Of lamb in my own jumping in the field.
Let it fall on each one by his own yield.
Excuse is not found in the natural way
The beast seeks out the innocent in prey.
Even the human law when caught in fray
Accuses not the victim of the day,
But points at perpetrator silver-heeled.

ESTHER 8

1 On that day King Ahasuerus
Gave Queen Esther the house to fear us
Of Haman, the foe of the Jews.
And Mordecai came in views
Of the king, for Esther had told
How he was to her kinsman bold.
2 The king took off his signet ring,
Which he’d taken from Haman’s sting,
And gave it to Mordecai,
And Esther appointed the man
Mordecai house of Haman.
3 Esther spoke again to the king,
Fell down at his feet for the thing,
And begging him with tears to do
Something against the wicked brew
Of Haman the Agagite, and
The scheme against the Jews he planned.
4 The king held out the golden sceptre
Toward Esther sign to accept her.
So Esther got up and she stood
Before the king, 5 and said, “If would
The king, and if I’ve found the good
Before his eyes and it seem right
To the king and in his delight,
Let it be written to revoke
The letters made by Haman’s stroke,
The son of Hammedatha who
Was the Agagite, which on cue
He wrote to liquidate the Jew
In all the king’s provinces’ view.
6 “For how can I endure to see
Such evil on posterity
Of my folk? Or how can I wait
To see my countrymen’s bad fate?”

The revocation of the bare edict
Is what Esther wanted at first and picked
To bring before the king. The problem is
That legislation’s no bright, easy biz.
The lovely Esther, who seemed well in state
Of palace and her gardens, chooses fate
Of grieving for the poorest and oppressed.
And so before the king she has confessed
Her ardour and her love for Jewish race.
I too in my hypocrisy am dressed
To come before Your ever-knowing face
And plead for homeless and starving disgrace,
And put a penny in the almsbox when
I see it on the street of businessmen.

7 Then King Ahasuerus said
To Queen Esther and to truebred
Mordecai the Jew, “Indeed,
I’ve given Esther in her need
The house of Haman, and they’ve hanged
Him on the gallows when he clanged
To lay his hand upon the Jews.
8 “Now you yourselves write a decree
Concerning the Jews, as you see,
In the king’s name, and seal it by
King’s signet ring, for every cry
Written in the king’s name and sealed
With royal signet’s not repealed.”
9 So the king’s scribes were called at once,
In the third month, which is the month
Of Sivan, on the twenty-third,
And it was written by the word
In all that Mordecai said,
To the Jews, the satraps outspread,
The governors, the princes bred
Of provinces from India
Clear down to Ethiopia,
One hundred twenty-seven known
Provinces, in every script grown,
To every people in their own
Tongue, and to the Jews in their own
Script and tongue message from the throne.
10 And he wrote in the name of King
Ahasuerus, sealed the thing
With the king’s royal signet ring,
And sent letters by horseback runners,
Riding on royal horses stunners
Bred from swift steeds like anything.
11 By these letters the king permitted
The Jews who were in each town quitted
To gather up and to defend
Their lives, destroy, and kill and end
Any forces that might pretend
Of any folk or province that
Would assault them where children sat
And women, and to spoil their goods.
12 On one day and in all the woods
Of King Ahasuerus, on
The thirteenth day of twelfth month drawn,
Which is the month of Adar’s dawn.
13 A copy of the document
Was to be issued and then sent
As a decree in every place
And published for all the folks’ trace,
To make the Jews ready that day
To avenge themselves in the fray.
14 The runners riding royal steeds
Went out quickly and pressed their needs
By the kings orders. The decree
Was given in Shushan’s fortress fee.

It’s Mordecai writes and signs the letter
To right the wrongs and make the Jews feel better.
I wonder that the king so soon abused
Would trust another man to point accused.
I write Your words, Beloved, for You and trust
That they are as they should be and they must.
I pick them from the Hebrew and the dust
And brush them with my cynical eye’s light,
And with my youthful eye for beauty bright.
Beloved, I set Your favoured words in state,
And then I answer them in battle prate
As though I spoke with lover or a man,
As though You were my equal in the span
Of human souls, the small and who seem great.

15 So Mordecai went out from
The presence of the king in sum
In royal clothing blue and white,
With a great crown of gold in sight
And a garment of linen fine
And purple, and the town in sign
Of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.
16 The Jews had light and gladness had,
And joy and honour everywhere.
17 And in every province and town,
Wherever the king’s orders sound,
The Jews had joy and gladness round,
A feast and holiday abound.
Then many of the country’s folk
Became Jews, because of the stroke
Of fear of the Jews on them broke.

The blue and white and purple set the light
Of Persian court out bright before the night.
The blue and white and purple in the crown
Bring happiness and joy to all the town.
Some rave of red and others love the blue,
Some grasp the green and others take the view
That yellow casts a richer, golden hue.
But ancient Persians had an eye for true
Blue and white and purple among the few.
Beloved, I deck my soul in purple thread
And place the blue and white upon my head
And come into Your courts of fir tree shed,
Beneath the pines and aspens that have fed
The squirrels, hares and mice above my bed.
They and I wait and pray here just for You.


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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