The Entire Thing – A poem for Parsha Chayei Sara

And she said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field towards us?”…And Isaac brought her to the tent of Sarah his mother, and he took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her.
-Genesis 24:65 and 24:67

Isaac marries Rebecca three sentences after
meeting her for the first time, and as we say in
our current vernacular – in the very same scene.

This is how it was when I met my wife who,
of course, was not my wife at the time but
it was inevitable like scripture.

It may have taken a few paragraphs and,
possibly, a trip to the tents of Kansas City
to confirm what we already knew

despite the cautiousness of everyone
who knew us. We’re eighteen years into
this situation, unless you’re reading this poem

in the future, in which case you’ll need to
do some addition because I’m quite sure
we’re still a thing.

Isaac and Rebecca had two kids who fought
in the womb (if you don’t mind me jumping ahead)
which may be why we only had the one.

He’s already traipsing around the southland
holding the hand of the one he regards to be
his Rebecca. Words like soulmate are

falling out of his thirteen year old mouth like
we’re still living in Biblical times. We hope
they avoid the Egypt situation altogether.

If you’re wondering about the meaning of life,
my friends, find your Rebecca or your Isaac.
Don’t let three sentences go by before

you acknowledge what is happening.
The money may come and go. Whose hand
you’re holding when you spend it

is the entire thing.

Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 26 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “I Am Not Writing a Book of Poems in Hawaii” (Poems written in Hawaii – Ain’t Got No Press, August 2022) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.