Hagar's Song

The sand beneath my feet, and the sun high overhead..

The fullness of my womb, the emptiness of my heart ..

I have cried to the winds of morning, but my tears dried on my face.

There was spite in the tents of the women, and cruelty on our tongues

Wrong begets wrong, in the cycles of dust

And we turn to our own undoing:

Fools that we are and were, and Death lurks in the corners.

Who shall unravel our history, or roll back the waves of time?

Where did it all begin, this cycle of human folly?

Was I the first accursed, when my womb enlarged my pride?

Turn back our lunatic folly, for Death lurks in the corners.

The day that I lay in his arms, was that where the sorrow began,

With a joy that should never have been, did we leave the way of wisdom?

Did we think ourselves masters of life, to thus make the miracle happen

Contriving a way through the maze, but now see my light turn to darkness?

Oh God of the desert paths, great Lord of Abram’s knowing,

I have been foolish and weak, can you hear a woman’s crying?

Oh that my prayer had wings, to fly to the heart of your dwelling,

For the sake of the child in my womb, let this not be the ending!

Death lurked in my foolish heart, in the pride of my youth and my ripening,

I trampled Sarai’s  heart, till she flashed back her anger,

All for the sake of this child, which I carry, alone in the silence,

All for the sake of this child, demanded then rejected.

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Death shall not swallow me! See, on the wings of the silence

Came the Angel of the Lord, to a woman and a servant!

Bidding me flee no more, but return to serve my mistress

For the sake of this child, this son, my baby born to blessing!

Hear oh you desolate sands, you springs of hidden blessing!

Hear oh you empty lands, you people homeless, wandering!

Hear of this God who sees, whose eyes beheld my weeping,

The God who bade me live, who holds me in His keeping!

For this child scarce begun, the Lord shall make him many!

Abundance shall be his: a future and a meaning!

For no one is too small to fall from God’s beholding

And life is in His hands, and blessing His bequesting.