Dan Lukiv

The Word of Jehovah That Came to Zephaniah, poetry Dan Lukiv

An excerpt, based on chapter one of Zephaniah // Baal, / owner, of land, / Hearts, / thinkless minds / Full like dry cisterns, // Of myrtle trees, and / Vineyards that beautify / Hillsides, / Of virgins, / shepherds, // Warriors swinging sharpened / Swords; / this Baal, / The man, / the lady, / The androgyne; / see, / men dressed / As women, / Women dressed as soldiers / Skilled in war and death; // O Baal, / Aliyan, / Zabul Prince, / Rider of Clouds, // Lord of Earth- / The rain and womb belong to you / Under Mot, / god of death and / Dry air, // Do you call your wife Ashtoreth, / Will you mate once again / To unfold the womb? // Listen to songs of lust-crazed / Sex-mongers, / to mum- / Bling readers of the zodiac, / To chirping birds no longer // On Baal's shoulders- / Did he leave the land, / Like a jackal on the run? // Like an ostrich abandoning / Her babies? / One day, / Baal, / you will cease / To be, // No longer lurking in thinkless / Men- / a log in a blaze, / You will cease to be.