After Reading Genesis Again

So much weeping at the end, their shoulders
shaking, men thrown upon each other’s
necks in recognition and regret. Brothers
in one room. I love the story, the father
sending his famished, guilty sons for food
to the dreamer Joseph, who stands before
them in silken robes, their futures bare.
How he leaves them to wail in his own room.

Sometimes at night I think I hear men’s groans
piled up for centuries. Sobs and repentance,
some wasted, and some never done. Slow dance
of hatred unresolved, the bitter bone.
And women. Rachel and Leah feuding still;
clawing of branches on my windowsill.

Jean Janzen lives in Fresno, Cal.

Reprinted from Piano in the Vineyard by permission of Jean Janzen and the publisher, Good Books. Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. (See review, page 31.)