Dan Lukiv

As the Hind That Longs, poetry Dan Lukiv

An excerpt, a poem based on chapter fifty of Psalms // He swallows another gulp / Of the red wine, / Not quite vinegar, / And tells her, his once-young wife / Now grey, her back curved, // "Ha! Ha! Ha! I am king of Babylon! / Of Assyria! Of Egypt!" Again he / Swallows, while his silent wife / Watches: "The bulls that paw and / Snort-mine! The creatures of / The forest-mine! The jackal, / The animals that burrow, the mice / And mole rats and jerboas-mine!" / He waves his drink before her, / Mother of grown children, / And his eyes grow wide in the light / Of the burning wick between them: / "You-mine! This plastered house- / Mine! The little hoopoe that flies / To Egypt-mine! I am a king! All the / He-goats-mine!" Again he waves his / Drink. "Ha!" He swallows. He smacks / His lips together, and his angry eyes / Warn her to keep the peace, / To lose another battle. And inside / Her skin her heart screams: // "Nabal! Nabal! Nabal!" which is / Not his name.