Leaving Egypt

The whole of humanity
given to erecting
golden calves
Moses on Mount Sinead
was so incensed
that he hurled down
God’s precious tablets
as rubbish
as if to forsee this
wicked generation

they received forty
years
as stripes
and their sandals
rode the dusty earth
never maimed
or replaced
and fed manna
until thousands
upon thousands
of mouths
started to spit
out Heaven’s
bread
vomiting in droves
over miles and miles
of sand
murmuring every morning
as a prayer
these former slaves
wore stripes
under a leathery
countenance
disconnected
from Egypt
they too forgot
where they distanced
from
and traveling
under the cloud
as a compass
they dismissed
the Shikinah Glory
of the Lord
as a common
cathedral

it was those stripes
that could not cut
through the exterior
of a whole nation
flesh was a rare
commodity
despite
the thousands
and thousands
of quail
God blew over
the mountains
stale meat
inside their gums
preferring bondage
to mercy
and backs
blown apart
by the taskmaster’s
whip
gripping tightly
their deaths
and they
grew accostomed
to breaking rocks
with their jaws
and their toothless
heads
still wanted
stripes without
godly discipline

aren’t we willing
to suffer the stripes
of our sins
and like Ancient Israel
spiritual manna
is hard to swallow
and wallowing
with pigs
is better
than going back
home

and how many times
have I run away from
a Holy Father?

copyright2010misfit1965
(not my image)