Love Sonnet #1

The bombs no longer came, and all were dead

Save two; dust settled back into the ground.

So to the living lady near, he said:

“The world is ended, love; we two are bound

“(Since we alone are left) to fill with young

“This earth, that man by death be not eras’d.”

So with her ears she heard that only tongue

So with her eyes she saw that only face.

Recalling Eve and blessed Noah’s bride

And all the progeny, the toil, the strife,

Thus she, last lady, took a dagger wide

And last man, by that dagger, lost his life.

            This time, though still the burden’s lady’s shame,

            No offspring can look back at her and blame.

Jephthah’s Daughter

Judges 11:29-40

I have haggled                                     with Heaven Himself:

He would provide                                victory in battle;

I would pay with that being                 born first in my house,

The one with shimmering eyes            and shining hair,

The quiet goat,                                     grown up in my home,

Again and again,                                  ever the first to greet me.

I have won                                           the wearisome battle,

For this glory                                       I gladly pay.

But oh, my only daughter,                   if I had only known

You were fated                                    first to come,

Meeting me,                                        my girl, with laughter;

Calling out,                                          coming as I came,

Some other promise                             prudence would have had me pray.

Father, forget not your                         promise but fulfill.

Only allow me                                     time up in the hills

To lament (my God!)                           that I will never marry.