Written for the Purimgifts 2015 exchange. There is one poem in Sapphic verse, one sonnet, and one in free verse. Many thanks to Himring for last-minute beta-reading.
I. Miriam to Moses
Moses, brother, drawn from the river waters,
mine and not mine, since Pharaoh's daughter took you;
as our mother swore not to let them harm you,
this too I promise:
In this too-brief time that we have together,
while our mother gives you her breast and holds you,
I will try to tell you about our people,
so you may know them.
I will sing you songs of the House of Jacob,
tell you stories, whispering softly to you:
take them in with milk of our mother, let them
nourish you also.
Baby brother, when you have grown to manhood,
when you stand in pride as a prince of Egypt,
do not close your ears to your people's sorrow,
do not forget us.
Though the river took you from us, your family,
this I know, as surely as Nile rises:
when the Lord delivers us from our bondage,
you will be with us.
II. Jonathan to David
My thought dwells with you when we are apart,
and sorrow's shadow falls upon me when
I hear the quiet whisper in my heart
that says I will not see your face again.
I never have forgotten my first sight
of you, a shepherd boy facing the king,
and how you smiled, confident and bright –
and struck down proud Goliath with a sling.
O Jesse's son, your love to me is sweet
as wild honey tasted after fast,
that makes the eyes bright and uplifts the feet;
so my soul still to your soul is bound fast.
No fear of treason comes between us two –
I know your heart by mine, and mine is true.
III. Barak to Deborah
"But Barak said to her, 'If you will go with me, I will go; if not, I will not go.'" (Judges 4:8)
I spoke these words to you not because I fear.
I know my strength of arm.
The men of Naphtali and Zebulun will follow,
will hazard their lives to the death.
It is not that I fear Sisera with his multitudes,
or his chariots of iron.
If I lead them forth, I am but a man.
I see only what is before me,
hear men speaking one to another.
But if you go,
if you are with us, woman of flames,
the Lord will go with us also.
Our hearts will burn as with fire,
heaven and earth will ring like a lyre whose string is plucked.
If you are with me, Judge of Israel,
I will be like lightning, swift and terrible.
Notes:
"wild honey tasted after fast": a reference to I Samuel 14, where Jonathan eats some wild honey, inadvertently breaking Saul's prohibition against eating before the battle is over, "and his eyes became bright."
"will hazard their lives to the death": as they are said to have done in Judges 5:18
"woman of flames": I was present at a study session where the group leader suggested the that phrase eshet Lapiydot, usually translated "wife of Lappidot," could be interpreted as "woman of flames," perhaps meaning someone who performs divination by gazing into a fire.
"lightning": meaning of the name Barak