Abram settled in Haran, but after a fifteen year span,
God told Abram what He planned: a journey through a Promised Land!
God then blessed him! Blessed his name! A nation, great, would be his fame!
Ev’ry family on earth would be blessed, too, at Abram’s hand!
God would bless those who would bless him, and curse those who dared to curse him!
God said all of this to him!

------------------------------------------------------------
Pause

------------------------------------------------------------
It is tempting to continue, in the hope that I could win you
To examine ev’ry sinew of the man that we hold dear.
But my reading must be ended, and this history suspended,
As I have already rendered much more than I had intended,
Which, if I may just remind you, was the Sacrifice's scare
That made many people fear.

------------------------------------------------------
I have told you the key stages of a story for the ages
That was captured in the pages of the Bible for all time.
‘Tis a story that engages common people and their sages
In a world where conflict rages over land in ev’ry clime.
Will a world where hate enrages, despite all that is sublime,
Ever see a peaceful time?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you, friend, who has walked with me on a modern poet’s journey,
To explore an ancient history that cannot be outlived.
Born in Ur, Ur of the Chaldees, born a skeptic to the Chaldees,
Abram was called on by God to leave the place where he had lived.
Born the most extr’ordinary person who has ever lived!
Born to worship God, and lived!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The End

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arnold Cantor
January 25, 2011

[This long poem, my longest to date, was started to see if I could imitate
the rhyme scheme of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”. I leave it to the readers to judge how closely I have achieved my goal. I initiated this poem on
August 3, 2004, and completed the first six parts rather rapidly. I then did
nothing much on this poem over the next 5 years, but decided, after a Yom Kippur
service last year, that I needed to finish it. Except for a few minor touches,
my poem is complete-- for now.]