The Night Abraham Called to the Stars

The Night Abraham Called to the Stars


Do you remember the night Abraham first saw
The stars? He cried to Saturn:
"You are my Lord!"
How happy he was!
When he saw the Dawn Star,

He cried, ""You are my Lord!"
How destroyed he was
When he watched them set. Friends,
he is like us:
We take as our Lord the stars
that go down.

We are faithful companions
to the unfaithful stars.
We are diggers, like badgers;
we love to feel
The dirt flying out from behind
our back claws.

And no one can convince us
that mud is not
Beautiful. It is our badger soul
that thinks so.
We are ready to spend the rest
of our life

Walking with muddy shoes
in the wet fields.
We resemble exiles in the kingdom
of the serpent.
We stand in the onion fields
looking up at the night.

My heart is a calm potato by day,
and a weeping
Abandoned woman by night. Friend,
tell me what to do,
Since I am a man in love
with the setting stars.


Robert Bly

Posted over on Robert Bly's Home Page