The Lord took note of Sarah as He had promised, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.
-Genesis 21:1
From the beginning she had not believed
It could happen. This voice that summoned
Her husband to perform these rituals
Cared nothing for her: she knew she would pay
In the end. But what light she found in the boy’s
Eyes; what awe at the small muscular thighs
That would grow strong enough to escape them
after that odd affair at the altar.
A short time really — the years she had been
With her child. In her long life of sorrow
how many days had she spent with her boy?
She could have held her breath: what difference
did it make that Abraham drove him away?
He had only been born to be taken.
Hilene Flanzbaum directs the MFA in Creative Writing program at Butler University and is the editor of “Jewish-American Literature: A Norton Anthology.”
