LyricSmiths

2.
What gift,
Or curse,
Slices foe and spills
His own sap?
See the gazelle
Speeding through
Tall grass
Into the wide
Jaws of the hungry
Wolf. See
Asahel-
Unsluggish feet!
She-bear!
Man upon a swift
Arrow!
Esteemed among
30! Abner cried:
"Stop!"
Again,
"Stop!"
With death bluntly
Sticking from his
Back, ruptured
Asahel, the fallen
Gazelle and dead lion,
Left bitterness
And revenge for
Joab, his brother,
To chew.

3.
A great chasm in
David echoed
With howls of the jackal,
With long wails that
Sunsets spawn,
With repeated yelps of
Rising pitch,
All a chorus of
Jarring notes that must
Have lost their intensity,
Their jagged volume,
As David waited,
Even through nights when
He must have ground
His molars, for
The day when
Jehovah would pour Joab's
Unrepentant blood
Upon that general's
Own head.
 

4.
Ishbosheth, "Man of
Shame," Baal too,
Owner of his own head
Cut off and carried
Upon the road to
Cool springs and green hills,
By marauders,
Rechab and Baanah
(Of when?);
They killed the dull
King while he napped upon
His own bed. Full of
Joy,
They dangled their master's
Head
Before this David
(Of when?)
Who cut off their
Hands and feet,
And then hung them
Upon poles by the
Pool in Hebron.

5.
Blind and lame,
Placed upon stone walls as
Warriors of ridicule?
Insults
That breathe?
Taunters of
That God
Egyptians learned to
Despise,
Who killed their
Firstborn sons and
Beasts: Jebusites,
People all over
Time and space,
Overly cool,
Doomed.
In Kidron Valley,
Near that eastern foothold
Spur, gurgles Gihon
Spring, home of Warren's
Shaft?, Achilles' heel?
Joab's climb to
Fame? That great city,
Dwarfed by the sprawl
Of today, terraced,
Flanked by great walls of the
Eastern face, a citadel,
A city upon veins
And arteries,
Like Megiddo and
Gibeon,
From which a few men like
Ekronites will
Jump sides, even as
They do today; O enclave,
Like a United Nation,
A place due for
Change. Jebus, Salem,
Home of mountain-dwellers,
Of-change. Yes,
It fills the air with
Warmth.
 

6.
This sapphire,
Enclave ball
Dunked in rule
Glorious as
Gold clear as
Glass-so many
Uzzahs!
Levites, yes!
But Kohathites?
No! "I crown
Myself." See
Earth,
Lopsided,
Crowned,
Wobbling along a
Corrupted
Ellipse[2],
Unable to
Locate its virgin
Arc.
Earth, home of
Men who think
They're kings,
And kings who think
They're divine,
Women who think
They're neither sex,
And sons who kill
Fathers for their
Sceptres.
"I will grab hold of the
Ark!
I will keep it from
Upset!…
Oh, dear! I'm
Dead!"
And the planet,
Blue like the
Deep skies and
Shallow seas,
Speeds along its
Nimrod wobble.
 

7.
David, of bloodshed, not
A temple maker for his
Jehovah who'd construct
A house, its foundation in
David's century, its roof in
Time that never arrives;
David, the greater sort, killed,
But given eternity as his own,
Not embarrassed that he had
A house but his father a tent,
Because they shared quarters,
Actually,
As families do; he, the genuine
Seed, of that extraordinary
Woman, Abraham too: King
David, cornerstone of earthy
Zion, but a new David, of a
New capitol, of altitude unfit
For ladders, does not share his
Failures, certainly not his
Wandering eye: two Davids,
Joined by sovereignty that
Laughs at flags[3].
 

8.
He was not a warrior-king
Upon a white horse,
Who'd hurled gnarled spirits
And their gnarled king
Into earthly abodes,
Nor did he extend
His realm of the river of
Egypt to the Euphrates,
Nor open
A door to pastures where
Lions and lambs
Feed together,
Nor would subjects call him
Lord and son,
Nor father of dead ones
Who'd breathe again,
Nor a ruler from a great cube
Of clear gold, that sits
Upon stones precious,
Like jasper
And chrysolite
And topaz, although
He did hamstrung
Hadadezer's horses,
Take much copper
From Betah, and once
Shop off a giant's
Head.

9.
I
Mephibosheth and nurse,
Afoot with terror; how he
Fell, breaking his feet;
How Ziba, servant, cheated
Him out of his father's field,
And his good name.

II
Mephibosheth the leper, the man
Jailed for his neighbour's theft,
Burned for reading unlawful pages,
Starved for his good heart,
Sawn in half for speaking about
How the king would tumble, the
Country boil in its own sin;

III
Mephibosheth, with unkempt feet,
Scraggy moustache, and unwashed
Garments, the man who gave up
Treasure for peace.

IV
Some stories, yet untold:
But a greater king would
Give the man who walked
Poorly a greater calm than
Rough history could
Thinly manage.

10.
Pride with a special edge,
That cuts open dignity,
To bleed for the theatre
Of men of mirth and hubris:
O insult! Outrage! Public
Scorn! Food for the armed
Man who swings his sword
At women with child,
Children frozen by horror, and
Lame men who hobble-he
Laughs! How he watches them
Fall, hating their weakness
That he gleefully mocks.
Hubris upon bare buttocks!
Upon half-shaven beards!
Hubris the gloating victor,
Master of harm[4],
Who joyfully skins alive[5]
His fellowman for the sake
Of fun and disgust.
 

11.
This time,
He did not simply miss the mark,
Like an archer who shoots untrue,
So he gathered his sin, a heavy stone,
Wrapping it in a nearby garment, and
Off he ran, into the night, with his
Burden close to his heart, until he came
To the outskirts of his city, where
Jackals hunt and sleep and yelp; he
Felt naked in the cool air, and gazed
Behind him, like a robber listening,
Watching, ready to bolt. He tossed
The weight that tested his balance
Into a well. After a great space of time,
An eon of nothing, a splash rang
Without soothing tones of doves in
Song; his moment of joy disappeared,
Like smoke rising into the night.
Back at his home, his lungs breathing
Hard, his heart beating quickly, his
Legs tired, he found that discarded
Cargo, still wrapped in his own garment-
A pillow for his bed.

12.
A crown weighing 92 pounds,
Useful,
Like a broom,
Upon the
Idol that consumed
Children,
Even babies-
Useful,
Like an oven,
Or cistern of
Cool water,
A crown that
David placed upon
His head?
Pro tem?
A dunce cap
For the king in a
Jovial mood?
Or was it the one large gem the
Targum speaks of?
Certainly this crown
Served not Hanun's
Head. Little man with a
Sore neck?
David,
Jokester?
"I am Malcam,
God of Ammon."
"Ha!" rang his
Soldiers? And the nations,
Too?-
Something to laugh at[6].
 

13.
His weight of hatred
Exceeded that of his
Love;
His incestuous love and
Trickery of heart possessed
Teeth within jaws,
But the force that drove her
Into the street,
As if she were
A harlot who'd displeased him,
Exceeded the blunt force that
Had raped her;
And she,
Lovely
Like hyacinth-blue,
Although she
Certainly didn't come from
A family of lilies-
Yes she,
With ashes
Upon her head,
And her
Striped gown of a king's daughter,
A virgin,
Ripped open,
Would never
Regain herself through
Absalom,
That festering boil.
 

14.
The wise woman from Tekoa
Spoke nothing about worthless salt
Tossed into the street,
Or the vine and its branches
Drawing up water in unity,
Or sleep that dead people awake
From, or slips of children,
Or the leaven of lies,
Or one grinding woman that lives
Alongside one that dies,
Or a lamp shining upon a hill and
Not under a basket[7.1]. But, like Nathan
The prophet, who spoke nothing of a
Dragnet of various fish, she turned
David's "ears into eyes[7.2]."

15[8].
O Judas of the book without
Vowels, from Giloth in the company
Of hills, father of mighty Eliam,
David's warrior prize, are you perhaps
Bathsheba's grandfather? O sage one
Peering out from the family folds,
How sweet your words sounded to
David your king and companion? Did
They not refresh like morning dew
From better places; you turned about
Face, O mastermind of treachery against
Your beloved king, your friend. How you
Orchestrated Absalom's shame in the
Cacophony of the concubines. O what a
Future awaits you (hunter of your
New master's dog)-like your brother
In time, traitor to a greater David.

16.
Dirt upon his head,
His robe ripped open,
Timeless Hushai met his
King upon the Mount
Of palm, myrtle, and
Olive trees that Romans
Would denude, where
Barefoot David had wept.
There his final lineage
Would teach gently
About the signs that
Summer's near, like
Leaves before the end,
And ride neither a white
Horse nor a chariot with
Spoked wheels. Upon
The colt of an ass he'd
Ride! How many times
Would he weep over
The fall of his father's
House? David cried
Upon the Mount of
Olives over his son's
Poisoned heart. Hushai,
Clever spy, closer
Than a brother, than a
Son, shared his king's
Grief, and his glory.

17.
Sons of priests, Ahimaaz who could outrun
Bad news[9], and Jonathan who'd dance often
Upon hot stones[10]-

These men in a well,
Beneath a screen and "cracked grain"
Poured by a plucky wife-
O treachery that a loved son
Had tossed upon his
Surefooted father!
"Where are Ahimaaz and
Jonathan?" Of course she
Lied. Soon wobbly Ahithophel,
A man who knew switchbacks
To glory set his house in
Straight lines and strangled
Himself. O Absalom!,
Who marvelled himself king
And his father dead,
Got his skull stuck in a
Tree while he rode a mule,
And died, dangling, with three rods
Through his heart. Perhaps
Songs of his childhood filled his
Gape before his lungs gave up.

18.
O Absalom, does your monument
Stand firm as time cut from rock in
That tomb of the Kidron Valley,

Dressed in
Greco-Roman glory?
How odd.

Weren't you abandoned,
Lifeless as your hope,
In a single hollow
In the forest of Ephraim?

Where lies that monument?
In Eden?
Alongside the grounded ark?
At the Ziggurat of Babel?
Why didn't
You erect pillars to your dead sons
Who carried your flesh nowhere
Into new lives of men?
How they
Search for that column that speaks
Of your father's throne,
That you
Spat upon,
And your father's ladies,
Whom you humiliated.
Where stands,
Or lies,
Your stone,
Your legacy,
Your triumph?
O Absalom,
Who remembers
Your grief?

19.
"Why should I become a burden
To you?"
A man of Rogelim,
Full of gold
But not himself,
Said-
Such a spring of honey
And sheep to
Hungry soldiers!
So willing to risk
Sons!
Wives!
The soft pillow of
Peace!
Adorned by a mild tongue
And open hand,
He no longer kept apace
With youth.
Had his breath grown
Sour?
Unclothed by privilege:
Barzillai,
Not larger than
Himself.

20.
Amasa, intestines strewn about,
Family[11] blood leaking across
The highway,
Wallowed in himself.
How he'd lost his general's gait-
A man stunned,
A sort of cliff-climber
Plummeting,
His rope severed by a
Cousin, brother,
Opportunist for the
King's charge. Amasa,
Lost in the shock
Of his own tangle,
Shuddered, moaned,
And died,
While people, still as frozen
Trees,
Watched.

21.
I
How often these pious
Sons of Canaan
Sacrificed children
Instead of lambs, on the
Altars of Baals instead
Of war,

II
But these odd Gibeonites, other sheep
To a new king once one would come along,
Named Saul who'd kill them, had
Conned their way into Joshua's
Heart, with their crumbs and worn-out
Sacks and sandals, and found loyal love in
Greater Joshua who'd rule a new Eden
In each meadow of the earth without real
Fences. These hewers of wood and
Drawers of water, these workers at the
Tabernacle that stirred like God's will,
These friends of more than men,

Who would dare disown them? Were
They dogs? Who would smear their
Name? Were they swarming insects
With many legs and low bellies?

III
Rizpah, keep up the vigil, until rain explains:
The seven corpses that atoned for Saul's
Hatred and crazy sword may come down,
Off their exposed shame, away from the kites
And eagles and vultures and hawks, that eat
The eyes and flesh, but smell little. O Rizpah,
The concubine upon sackcloth, months at her
Watch, protector of her two shamed sons
And five grandsons, killed, who paid
For a contract broken between true sheep
And the other ones, from Gibeon.

22.
A rocky place of rest
Upon a great cliff,
A crag of joy, a palm
Of loyalty, a God
Better than a stone
Tower, sharp sword,
Or justice at the city
Gate where old men
Quote law and speak
Carefully. In torrent
Valleys, in clefts of
Foreign crags, men of
Baal slaughter boys
And girls, to find peace
In the hearts of mothers
And fathers, but such
Remote activity, at
Times under luxuriant[12]
Trees, wavered only in
Desert mirages, that is,
Flames that do not die,
But in the heart of secure
Height, such trickery
And pain has no mother,
No father, no progeny[13].

23.
Empty cistern, water pit dried up?,
A prison hole or pit or hallway to
Hades14, perhaps a pear belly hewn
From un-cracked rock, or carved into
Limestone, now plastered, now littered
By broken jars un-recovered by rope
Or hand, and by tossed dirt that settles
Scum on stagnant or worse water,
Where a dead sheep or goat did not
Make water unclean, although the
Man who dragged it up stairs
Into the above world was.

How many curved doorways or
Windows to the snowy top
Lit your insides, where a lion,
Quick to strike, likely did not
Roar its unnatural thunder? That
Beast with jaws that could snap a
Thigh bone, how it must have paced,
Eyes cool, fearless, locked on
Benaiah, its paw ready to break his
Neck with one blow, its claws
Ready to slice him to his vital
Places. Benaiah, distinguished
More than David's 30, almost to
The rank of three, killed it in that
Corridor to Sheol[14], and climbed
Back into "the day of snowfall."

24.
I
The serpent gave the order
That even Joab, full of
Blue skies, his gold,
Despised. Eventually, David's
Heart flapped about, a bird
Unable to escape its fright,
Imprisoned in the king
Imprisoned by folly.

II
After David had cut off the
Skirt of Saul's sleeveless
Coat, how his heart slapped
His face; Pharaoh, full
Beyond Joab's strange blue
Skies, kept coughing up bile
After which always a plague
Would dance, or stomp, upon
Egyptian hope; Amalekites,
Unprovoked in hatred, stood
Up like a stone wall in the
Wilderness, and attacked
From the rear; O
Predators of the weak and
Slow, they uncovered their
Glory, like Agag hacked apart,
Their reward. Did wives
And children of Korah and his
Pals cling to the wisdom of men
As earth swallowed them to lie
Silent in Sheol? And
Achan, green but not quite
Like Joab: What blessings did
His household enjoy once
Stones began to fly? What
Gnashing of teeth did David
Invite into the land? And what
Blood, in all the places where
Men loving men have fallen,
Yet cries out, like the blood of
Abel, for peace amongst lambs
And lions and children who
Skip about.


Footnotes

1. All Biblical quotes and references: The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (1984). Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York.

2. The formula for the ellipse: [not formatted]

3. Psalm 2:4.

4. Hitler-1889-1936: Hubris, by Professor Ian Kershaw.

5. Assyrians, infamous for cruelty, were known to skin alive prisoners of war.

6. Psalm 59:8.

7.1. Matthew 5:13; John 15:5; John 11:11-14; Psalm 128:3; Matthew 16:12; Matthew 5:14-16.

7.2. To quote one author.

8. Except during times of war, Ahithophel's suicide (2 Samuel 17:23) remains a singular event in the Hebrew Scriptures.

9. 2 Samuel 18:19-32.

10. 1 Kings 1:41-43.

11. Amasa and his murderer, Joab, were cousins.

12. Isaiah 57:5.

13. Jeremiah 7:31.

14. Acts 2:27; Psalm 16:10. Hades (Greek) and Sheol (Hebrew) are often translated into English as gravedom or the common grave of mankind.

 

 

 

"And It Came About After Saul's Death" continued