Perhaps We Deserve Each Other

The UCC and I deserve
Each other don't you see?
They toss, in wild abandonment,
Deep love like far-flung sea.

For in my way I am like them,
Though not their gentle way;
I blather on, then sing a song,
Encourage through the day.

It's not that either is a sin,
At core – that's what I mean –
It's that there are no boundaries
Restraining what has been.

Like raging waters in full flood
We spill up o’er our banks,
And drown the folks who near us come
Surprised they give no thanks.

That was the glitch for Abraham
That great philanthropist;
He gave in lush extravagance
Far more than Isaac wished.

For Isaac was the other way,
Constraining to a fault;
He saw the flaw in dear old dad
So at such giving balked.

Then one fine day old Abraham
Took Isaac by the hand;
‘God bids me give you back to Him
(As him I understand)’.

Resigned contempt at blindness his,
Was that how Isaac felt?
Dad’s missing piece (his son's restraint),
Meant cruel hand now dealt.

So Isaac went along with dad
Not breathing single word
Till they walked on, as one, to hill,
Aware of belted sword.

“So dad”, he asked, as calm he could,
“Where's lamb for sacrifice?”
“God will provide”, replied his dad,
“Or you”– as cold as ice.

“Oh great!” prayed Isaac to his God
“I hope you have plan B;
My time down here is running out
For father-dear to see.”

 “Relax my son”, (I hunch God said)
“Abe needs to get the point –
He knows my lavish unrestraint,
That's half – he's out of joint –

“If he can't get it through his head
That there's another side,
His chance of blessing all will end
As he slits up your hide.”

“So glad to be of service, God,
This lesson must be key
For I'm the locus of this word
I know – but he can't see.

“He hates the very sight of me
‘Constrained’ in all my ways;
He says I should ‘abandoned’ be
And thus enrich my days.

“But then again, I hate his ways,
How could I take them on?
Look at him now, this end result,
Death of his treasured son.

How can he ever see constraint
I value and portray
He'll look into my eyes up there
And slay me anyway.”

 “Perhaps”, said God (at least I think)
“That's you-in-him that's seen;
So if your roles reversed up there
You'd slay – that's what you mean”.

“Okay – I hate that side of dad
More deeply than I thought,
But why would I take up his ways
When into this he's bought? “

“Perhaps perspective’s what you need
To understand his thought;
Remember what he told to you
Of lunchtime in dad's shop?

“His dad sold idols back in Ur,
Most prosperous his days;
A favourite of the king he was
The sale of idols pays!

“But Abe saw through such nonsense there
And felt the pain of folks
Who scraped and saved to buy those things,
For him it was no joke.

“So one fine day while all alone
He seized a workers sledge,
And smashed the smaller idols down
On shelf, and the floor, and ledge.

“He left the largest of them all
And placed the hammer there;
Blamed all the smashing on that one
All smashed beyond repair.

“He said, ‘a jealous fit of rage
Swept through the idol store;
And in the end, last standing was
That fellow, no one more’.

“His dad replied in righteous rage,
‘That cannot be, my son,
For idols cannot do such things –
They're dumb and worthless stone’.

“ ‘I rest my case, O father dear,
I see you now agree;
For either you believe yourself,
Or else you side with me.

“Soon after that he got the call
To mosey out of town;
To see himself, and if out west
Like-thinkers could be found.

“But think, my boy, which idol was
The last – the one unscathed?
'Twas Marduk, huge, with arms outstretched,
Obsidian was made.

“And hollowed out inside for fire,
When lit, his eyes shone bright;
He looked alive and fearsome so
Their giftings would be right.

“For upturned arms were angled such
That babies would roll in,
To burn within his belly fat
And thus address their sin.

“So, Isaac, think – dad cannot hear
My words outside that frame;
He knows I am a single God
But thinks I ask for flame.

“I need him now to understand
I ‘lavish’ mix with ‘bounds’;
He's into lavish side, you see,
Thus, sacrificial round.

“You have the problem quite reverse –
It has its ugly side –
Too much constraint, and bounds, no love,
Is hell where you reside.

“My plan is let him live that out,
His life of unrestraint
His seeing is quite critical,
I scene for him can't paint.

“So walk in faith – that much with Abe
I know you both agree –
And trust to me its working out
For you and family tree.”

When on that altar lay that lad
For knife dad’s hand did reach
Then all around the altar came
The angels who did greet –

Their tears flowed into Isaacs eyes
Cold, hateful eyes, contempt;
When father looked into son's eyes
Those tears ripped through his tent.

The angels shouted, “Abraham!
Don't rend that young boy's skin –
But open up your eyes instead
And ponder where you've been!”

For close at hand was quite a fuss,
Huge ram with curled horns
Cried out and thrashed to free himself
All tangled in some thorns.

The contrast there, twixt son and ram,
Smote father's heart in two;
In flash he saw there in those eyes
Son, God, he never knew.

Son breathed the sigh of great relief
As dad undid his ropes;
Now father balanced unrestraint
With boundaries – there was hope.

As dad walked down the mountainside
To meet again his men,
Son Isaac waved and turned away
His weaker side to mend.

“If dad learned from Melkezadek
At monotheist's school
The art of loving unconstrained
And thus became a fool –

“Perhaps it's there I should now go
To learn of unrestraint;
Leave dad to get the detail of
The half of life he ain't.

“It's not so hard to learn that stuff
Now dad has heard my side;
Aware he is, as I am too,
In balance, love resides”

So through the years this story wrapped
Around the Torah's words,
And students of the word grew up
Love's balance then observed.

Today there is dichotomy
Within economy;
For gone is balancing of love,
Each one side only see.

They see constraint and love as foes
Thus miss the point indeed –
Love is the fulcrum twixt the two,
Constraint and giving free.

It matters not what's in the pan
Of giving side of scale,
It’s fact of unrestricted gifts
That screws up any sale.

For “sales” restore the wholeness to
Both sides of an exchange;
Shalom, Salim (wd?) – same Hebrew root –
That's why we give back change.

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