Sinai

“Mount Sinai” by Yoram Raanan

uncertain summit

sacred among

peaks of exodus

roofing the pharaoh

here somewhere

did granites bear

Decalogue stones

paired mosaics of

lawgiver language

adapted in time

through the schisms

of faith by three

scriptural books

given reverent

devotion by disparate

children of Abraham

common of roots

drawn from desert

and mountain yet

deeply estranged by

construal of doctrine

Baskets

“Ancient Baskets”
Photo by skelter
From flickr.com

ancient craft of the hearth
weightless vessels of reeds
heavy laid with comestible time
hunter gatherer provender
stored against inhospitable
seasons of winter and drought
humble finger weaved heirlooms
served cave and encampment
arranging prehistory neatly
by light of domestic red fire
asylum for civilized impulses
nurtured by small worlds of
family and clan within still
savage spheres of existence
where pharaohs drowned babies
but missed one new basket-borne
son in the bulrushes he of the Levite
cloth grown to be shepherd for
one humble nation of men become
lawgiver unto all nations all men
for the rest of all God-given time