Torah Blues

When the red sea parts
again; when
rain of death falls
over Egypt;

when the house of mourning
calls last orders
and Isaac's camels are thirsty
by the well.
When jonah is swallowed
back down by the whale,
is lost to the violence of ocean
swell;

when progeny dishonour
their parents

and spit on their grandfathers' graves .
When a gold calf rises
over Israel;
and man bows to images
other men grave

When bullet fed children
lie starving in doorways
and the winepress of fury
has the whole city drunk;

and God sends no fire to
Elijah's table.
When all species die
as though
the ark
had sunk;

When the god of tarmac
Switches the city lights on,
douses the stars until they are none
Abraham's children
shall be no more
the silence, the black has begun