Ur, city of the moon goddess,

      Was no longer a haven to Terah, Abram’s father, of Noah’s line.

      He gathered his family, collected all possessions,

      Crossed the river and trekked to Haran, a new moon away.

      They journeyed through the blistering heat of the day.

      Sand storms blinded the eyes,

      Heavy rains soaked through the skin, and freezing night cold chilled their bones.

      Haran was an oasis. Merchants gathered there and sold their wares.

      Terah grew rich fashioning gods to satisfy all worshiping leanings.

      The people welcomed the newcomers.

      The newcomers had arrived with wealth

      And there increased their fortune.

      The people trusted them because they were kind and just.

      If anyone was in need, the newcomers, the river crossers, the Habiru, gave freely.

      The newcomers, the river crossers, the Habiru, knew ways to settle disputes

      That always split one mortal from another.

      Abram was gifted with wisdom and compassion.

      And many sought his counsel.

      Abram questioned his father on the divinity of molded clay and shaped wood.

      “How can an inert moon reflect sun light and yet control our destinies?

      Could your idols found the world?

      Could your idols create animals, plants, and mortals?”

      “They offer solace, hope, and fertility to their owners,”

      Was his father’s reply. Abram did not accept his account.

      He had been awe struck by God’s Mystic Design.

      He sought to understand the marvelous onset of the cosmos.

      Then, deep within him a Soft yet Stalwart Voice Rose and Called “Abraham, Abraham!”

      Abram replied. “Here I am.”

      “Henceforth you are to be called ‘Abraham’.

      Because you will become the father of many peoples

      I Have Given your name an extra letter to raise your rank.

      That letter, H, is a Part of Me, and is My Gift to you to Crown your name.

      Henceforth, Your wife Sarai, will be called Sarah, a princess.

      Then the Voice Instructed him with these words,

      “Gather your courage and go forth from your father’s house.

      Go hither to the land I Will Show you.

      To your offspring will I Give this land.”

      Abraham, clad in God’s Everlasting Love,

      Bade farewell to his father.

      He took his possessions, his dear wife and princess Sarah, and his nephew Lot

      And followed A Spark of Divine Light, his Compass,

      From one land to another, until he stopped at Canaan, home of the Hittites.

      There the Divine Voice Spoke,

      “To your offspring I Give this land. Be fruitful and multiply!”

      At that place Abraham built an altar dedicated to the Glinting Light

      Which he knew to be from God.

      But his wife, his beloved, his princess, his Sarah, was barren.

      She was without child.

      Abraham spoke to “God” and asked how can he have offspring with a barren wife.

      “Be patient, Abraham!” God Urged him.

      And Abraham told Sarah of his conversation with “God.”

      She guffawed. “How can I an old woman, nearly ninety, become a mother?”

      Abraham searched his mind to find answers but they were beyond his knowing.

      In the meantime he took Hagar, Sarah’s maid servant, and she bore him a son.

      In time a swollen bud of love enlarged within Sarah

      Into a curve, splendid like the rainbow that Noah witnessed after the Flood.

      In time the bud of love had its own existence and was named “Isaac,”

      To remind her that once she laughed at God. And now God Laughed back.

      Sarah, the Matriarch

      And the Egyptians beheld the Sarah and admired her beauty. Gen XII, 14

      Her countenance was comely

      Her mind was razor honed

      And the fiber of her spirit,

      With Mercy had been Toned.

      Daily would she talk with God

      Who Listened to every phrase

      And Heard the language of her heart

      And Praised her gentle ways.

      One day Sarah heard A Call

      As if in Mystic Dream,

      Leave Haran with your man

      And follow My Sacred Beam.

      Abraham heeded his wife’s advice

      And left Haran for good

      And traveled toward an unknown land,

      Hopeful of fatherhood.

      Sarah arranged the journey

      She knew what was the way

      Because God Had Showed her in her Dream

      The road so’s not to stray.

      In every land where she set foot

      The people extolled her brain

      And she would greet them regally

      With a simple refrain,

      God Is in every heart

      To Make Humanity pure

      And Crown Creation with decency

      And every ill to Cure.

      Sarah showed the world that beauty

      Is not a flawless face,

      Not ruby lips nor henna hair,

      But Kindness born of Grace.

      She taught the world

      That majesty is everyone’s right and claim;

      All it takes is valor

      And a noble aim.

      The Fate of Sodom

      God Said, “loudly wail the Sodomites for galling are their sins.” Gen XVIII, 20.

      The people of Sodom, renowned for guile

      Attacked every stranger in ways quite vile.