Indigo Answers - 100th Monkey

Lot's Wife

~ Kristine Batey, from 'Alive Now' (a Christian publication)

While Lot, the conscience of a nation,
struggles with the Lord
she struggles with the housework.
The City of Sin is where
she raises the children.
Ba'al or Adonai
whoever is god -
the bread must still be made
and the doorsill swept.
The Lord may kill the children tomorrow,
but today they must be bathed and fed.
Well and good to condemn your neighbor's religion;
but weren't they there
when the baby was born,
and when the well collapsed?
While her husband communes with God
she tucks the children into bed.
In the morning, when he tells her of the judgement,
she puts down the lamp she is cleaning
and calmly begins to pack.
In between bundling up the children
and deciding what will go,
she runs for a moment
to say good-bye to the herd,
gently patting each soft head
with tears in her eyes for the animals that will not understand.
She smiles blindly to the woman
who held her hand at childbed.
It is easy for eyes that have always turned to heaven
not to look back;
those that have been - by necessity - drawn to earth
cannot forget that life is lived from day to day.
Good to a god, and good in human terms are two different things.
On the breast of the hill, she chooses to be human,
and turns, in farewell -
and never regrets the sacrifice.