Never sit down to feast with blood.
A man who murders with a bitter spear-point
Slays the spirit within himself. 1565
He will not rejoice when he comes to judgment,
For my retribution will be fair but fierce.
If a man prospers by killing his brother,
What should he expect but righteous wrath
Before his Lord. Mercy cannot be measured out 1570
To the unmerciful. Killers will be dealt destruction.
Man was first made in the image of God—
His soul shaped with a divine breath.
Only those who keep the likeness of the Lord,
The kindred of angels, and the love of God, 1575
Will be safe from sin and survive the storm.
Flourish and increase, enjoy the earth,
Make the renewed world a welcome place
For each and every kind of my living creatures.
Fill the land with your sons and daughters— 1580
Build for yourselves a homeland for the heart.
Hear now my covenant in this rekindled creation:
I will never again bring the deluge down
To destroy the world with avenging waves.
You can see a sign of my promise of protection 1585
In the rich rainbow that brightens the clouds
And blazons my bond. I will keep this covenant
With mankind as long as the world remains.”
Then the wise son of Lamech, the guardian
Of God’s wealth in that glorious ark, 1590
Disembarked with his three worthy sons,
Shem and Ham, and also Japheth,
Their wives and children, a precious progeny
Saved from the storms of wind and wave
By their steadfast Savior. Nations sprang up 1595
From this new beginning, this sacred seed,
And the earth was filled with the children of men.
Once again Noah began with his kinsmen
To build a house and establish a homestead.
He toiled on the land, tilling the earth, 1600
Sowing many seeds, planting a vineyard,
Laboring each day so that the lush earth
Might bring forth its verdant blessings
Of sprig and shoot, bud and bloom.
Then it happened that Noah got drunk 1605
After a family feast and staggered into bed.
Sated and wine-weary, he slipped from his robe,
Starkly revealing his limb-naked body.
He barely knew what mischief he’d made
When his dizzy mind was swimming with wine, 1610
Crying out to his heart in that holy house.
He slept in such an unconscious stupor
That he lost his modest covering of clothes
And exposed his genitals, that ancient shame
Of men and women from the days of Eden, 1615
When the Lord of glory expelled our parents,
Our father and mother, with a sword of fire,
Locking the gates of paradise behind them.
Then Noah’s son Ham came into the bedroom
Where his father was sleeping bare naked 1620
And would not respect him, but ridiculed him,
Laughing and joking, telling his brothers later
How his father slept so shamefully in the hall.
Shem and Japheth crept in, covering their eyes,
And respectfully covered up their father’s body. 1625
To them it was anathema to laugh at their lord.
Then Noah awoke from his drunken sleep
And discovered that Ham had degraded him,
Holding no love for his lord in his need.
That was a bitter pill for the noble patriarch, 1630
And he set a curse on his son, saying that Ham
Would always be a miserable man, an outcast,
Bound to serve the rest of his kinsmen
Everywhere on earth. That oath has been
A bane to Ham and his race forever. 1635
Then Noah and his noble sons, free men,
Ruled the realm and enjoyed their lives
For three hundred fifty years after the flood
Until the son of Lamech sailed on from life.
Noah’s sons prospered, sharing property 1640
And bearing children. Japheth had a joyous
Hearth-hoard of sons and daughters.
He was a good man, a kind comfort,
Supporting and sustaining his large family
With his wealth until his heart’s treasure, 1645
His yearning spirit, departed this life,
Taking the long road to his Lord’s judgment.
Then Gomer, Japheth’s good son,
Shared his father’s property with kith and kin,
Friends and family. His descendants flourished 1650
And filled the earth with no small numbers.
Likewise sons were born to his brother Ham.
The eldest were called Cush and Canaan,
Fine first-born sons in a long line.
Cush ruled the realm after Ham died, 1655
Dispensing the wealth among the family
In his father’s place. He gave out laws
Until the rest of his days ran out.
The noble father of Nimrod traded
Earthly goods for heavenly glory, 1660
Seeking a peaceful place with the Lord.
Afterward the first son of the heirs of Cush
Ruled the realm and achieved renown.
Scriptures say that he was the mightiest man
In those ancient days, a powerful prince 1665
Of the kingdom of Babylon, the first to rule
That wide realm, extend its borders,
Establish its glory, fix its fame.
At that time all the men and women on earth
Spoke a common language, a single tongue. 1670
Likewise the people of Ham held power.
From Ham’s stock many descendants sprang—
His tribe was large, his people powerful.
Shem too had many fine, free-born sons
And beautiful daughters before he met his rest. 1675
The people in his long and abundant line
Were steadfast and good. From his son Eber
Sprang countless tribes that we now call
The Hebrews. The proud people went east,
Traveling with all their worldly wealth, 1680
Their cattle and goods—a dauntless race.
They sought a broader, less crowded land,
Migrating in great numbers till they came
To the broad plains and bright fields of Shinar,
Whose high hills and verdant valleys 1685
Might shelter and sustain them for many years.
The earth was ample and rewarded their toil
With abundant offerings, so the people prospered.
There the multitudes cried out for craftsmen
To create a great city with a tall tower 1690
Reaching as high as heaven, a true token
Of their own eminence in the land of Shinar,
A place where powerful patriarchs would thrive,
Before the tribes were scattered once more
In their restless search for a richer land. 1695
They chose to build in those beautiful fields
Because mighty leaders, wise in years,
Had lived there happily for a long time,
But the proud builders began bickering
About everything from craft to construction. 1700
They were greedy for glory and wanted a hall
To celebrate their skill and fix their fame.
They raised ladders and built a city,
Tall towers and stairways of stone,
A height beyond measure, but the holy Lord, 1
705
Who needed no sign of human glory,
In his gathering wrath gazed down upon
That overreaching tower, that ascending sin,
And gave those proud earth-dwellers an odd gift
To thwart their plans—unintelligible tongues. 1710
Each tribe spoke a different language;
No one understood what his neighbor said.
Their craft was confounded, their master-plan
Unmade, their communication chaos.
The tower of Babel was an unholy monument 1715
To man’s fierce pride, an unfinished folly.
The tribes left the city, endlessly divided
Not by a sword but by unshared speech—
One man’s wisdom was another’s blather.
Each was alien to the other, after almighty God 1720
Erased their understanding. The tribes scattered
In all four directions, searching for land.
Behind them rose a sign of undoing,
The half-built, abandoned tower of Shinar.
Then the tribe of Shem increased on earth 1725
And under heaven. One of his descendants,
Thoughtful and wise, dutiful and virtuous,
Had two noble sons born in Babylon,
Powerful princes, brave of heart,
Sage of spirit, Abraham and Haran. 1730
The Lord of angels was friend and elder
To both of those men who were bold leaders.
Haran bore a son whose name was Lot.
Abraham and Lot were noble lords
Who ruled the realm, its rightful inheritors. 1735
They were always held in high regard
By the children of men and the hosts of heaven.
Now the time finally arrived when Abraham
Married a beautiful, noble woman
And brought her home. Her name was Sarah, 1740
As the scriptures say. They prospered in peace
For many years, but she yielded no children,
No sons or heirs, as fate would have it.
Then Abraham’s father set forth with his family
And goods out of the land of the Chaldeans, 1745
Seeking the land of Canaan. Abraham and Lot
Went on this journey, two loyal descendants
Chosen by God. These noble kinsmen,
Sons of patriarchs, then settled in Haran
Along with their wives, where Abraham’s father, 1750
A worthy man, found his final rest
When he reached the age of two hundred five.
Then the Guardian of heaven, almighty God,
The eternal Lord, spoke to Abraham:
“Leave the land of Haran and your father’s house— 1755
Set forth at once with your worldly wealth,
Goods for your offspring. Travel as I tell you,
Dearest of men, and I will lead you
To a lush country, a green homeland,
A sweet and sustaining countryside, 1760
Where you will thrive in my care and protection.
If an evil enemy should ever confront you,
I will curse and confound him with hostility
And lay agony and affliction upon his heart.
If you find a friend and neighbor who honors you, 1765
I will favor him and his family, offering them
My blessings and benefits. Through you, Abraham,
All earth-dwellers dear to my purpose
Shall find hope and happiness, a rich blessing.
Your sons and daughters will spread endlessly 1770
Under the sun, a splendid and prodigious race,
Until they inhabit many portions of the earth.”
Then the great and gracious leader Abraham,
Generous and just, valued and virtuous,
Gathered his goods, his gold and silver, 1775
And left the land of Haran, leading his herds,
Wielding his wealth, heading for Canaan,
As God had commanded with his holy words.
Beloved of God, he came with his bride,
His wife and helpmate, his bed-companion, 1780
Along with Lot, his brother’s son,
And his wife and family to claim his inheritance
When he was almost seventy-five years old.
God commanded Abraham to search the borderlands
Until he came to a place called Shechem in Canaan, 1785
Where he prospered. Then the Lord of angels,
The Leader of men, our God and Guardian,
Revealed himself to Abraham, saying:
“This is your homeland, bright and lush,
With fertile fields and green groves, 1790
Rich grain and ripe fruit, the promise of plenty.
Here you will have both blessing and bounty,
And your generations shall increase and thrive.
You and your heirs shall rule this realm.”
Then noble Abraham, the servant of God, 1795
Built an altar and offered his sacrifice
To the Lord of life, the Protector of souls.
Then Abraham traveled still farther east
To set his eyes on the best of lands.
Remembering the promise that his beloved Lord, 1800
The Guardian of heaven, the King of victories,
Had made to him through his holy word,
He began to seek for the best possible place
To build a home, till his family and followers
With their proud possessions, their worldly goods, 1805
Came at last to a rich place called Bethel.
The glad-hearted leader, the joyous lord,
Arrived from the east with his brother’s son,
Their beloved families, and a host of people,
Carrying their possessions over the high hills 1810
To this storied land with bright plains
And blooming groves, fair and fertile,
To shepherd their flocks, till their fields,
And flourish in faith under the eyes of God.
Then Abraham built another altar, 1815
Calling out to God with clear words,
Offering a sacrifice to the Lord of life,
The one who measures out all rewards,
Who gave him unsparingly the glorious gift
Of green growth on the earth again. 1820
Then the wise leader settled down
In his happy home with his wife Sarah—
Until a terrible calamity fell upon Canaan,
A fierce hunger, a lethal famine
That brought death to every household. 1825
Abraham was chosen and counseled by God
To seek refuge, sustenance, and safety,
In the land of Egypt. That faithful servant
Obeyed the Almighty and fled from woe.
That hunger-wolf was too greedy, too grim. 1830
When Abraham gazed at the high walls
And gabled halls of the Egyptian cities,
Brightly adorned, then the good husband
Began to instruct his bride, saying to Sarah:
“When the proud Egyptians at first behold 1835
Your elven beauty with their astonished eyes,
Some bold lord with a lustful heart
May rashly desire you and draw his sword
To unmake my marriage and take my life.
So, beloved Sarah, you must always say 1840
That you are my sister when strangers ask
How we are related and where we come from.
We will be siblings together on a strange trek
From a foreign land. Conceal the truth
And save my life if the Lord of peace 1845
Is willing in his wisdom to shield and sustain us,
Lending us longer life as he did before,
When we so often traded one land for another,
Leading our people on the long exile-road.
The Almighty ordained this journey for us, 1850
So that we might seek aid and advantage,
Food and favor, from the prosperous Egyptians.”
So Abraham, the daring and dauntless leader,
Traveled into Egypt with his kith and kin,
His worldly goods, and his faith in God. 1855
The Egyptians were alien to the noble outsider—
He knew no one in that strange land.
Powerful men gazed upon Sarah’s beauty,
Her royal bearing, her splendid grace.
They knew no one fairer than this fine woman 1860
And praised her to the prince, their liege-lord,
Who immediately ordered the foreign beauty
Brought to his hall so he could hold her there
In his own gaze, regarding her loveliness.
The treasure-giver, wealth-guardian, 1865
Also honored Abraham with many possessions.
But God was angry with this worldly prince,
The proud pharaoh, king of Egypt,
For his unseemly love of his servant Sarah,
For he desired the woman with wanton lust. 1870
So God sent down a terror to afflict Egypt
And all his household, a plague of pain.
Those powerful men paid dearly for their pleasure.
Pharaoh knew the source of his suffering,
The reason for God’s unbridled wrath— 1875
Sarah’s loveliness and his own longing.
Pharaoh ordered Abraham brought before him,
One holy terror in front of the other.
He gave Abraham back his beautiful bride,
Ordering him to seek friends elsewhere. 1880
He ordered his servants to escort Abraham
Honorably out of Egypt, uninjured, unimpaired,
So he could find peace in some other place.
Then Abraham took his worldly possessions
And went with his family and followers 1885
Away from Egypt and back to Bethel,
Their previous home. Brave heroes guarded
Both brides and rings, the treasures of the tribe.
Together they led their flocks and families,
Wives and wealth, to a propitious place 1890
Where they built homes and shaped a city,
Settling down, restructuring their lives.
They raised an altar near Abraham’s old one,
Which was built when the patriarch first came
To that wondrous place in the unknown west. 1895
There the faithful leader who enjoyed God’s favor
Lifted up the name of the Lord once more,
Sending his sacrifice in the embrace of flames
To the Leader of angels, the Lord of light,
The eternal Shaper and Sustainer of life, 1900
The Complete Old English Poems Page 16
