Ishmael, O Ishmael, our God once wished you well.
Your mother, an Egyptian. Your father, God’s great friend.
You loved your father, Abraham, though he’d ordered you sent
into the desert, spending your life far from the father who
had loved you, after his wife, your hated stepmother, ordered you expelled
from the extensive holdings that you and your mother thought would/should come to you
as the eldest son of a very wealthy man.
You especially hated Sarah, but despised your mother, too,
because she did not effectively stand up to her for you.
(Your sons still don’t like women, and keep them in a place
Where they can never harm a son of yours, the hallmark of your race.)
The horror of the awful day you were uprooted and sent into the desert
with only a bag of water was scarred within your heart
and hatred for your brothers would grow and not depart. Sarah hated you
and your mother so much that she did not send you off with servants, camels, tents, and gold.
Only a bag of water.
You did return to bury Abraham, whom you’d hated and adored, obeying, before it was written down,
the Commandment to “Honor your father and your mother.”
And helped your younger brother with the task, he with whom, as boys, you’d played,
Until the awful day descended, when Sarah had you sent away.
You had twelve sons of your own, from your Egyptian wife,
And taught each one their sacred duty was to bring endlesss strife
Against all your father’s family,
And his Great God, Who offers love you hate.
The saddest thing in all of time, your bitterness won’t end.
Face set against your brothers, sons raised to be their foes,
So filled with hate and anger they neither knew nor know their woe
Was to be separated from the God Who’s wished you well
And sent an angel to protect His beloved Ishmael.
And from God’s Son, your brother, from Whom you turn your face
And go on burdening your sons with hate on hate on hate.
You set yourself against your brothers. Your anger echoes, still,
In all the troubles in the world, from angry Ishmael.
Be happy, my friend. Don’t hate your neighbors, but love them
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