Why are the Egyptians
afraid of the Hebrews?
What moves Pharaoh’s gaze
out the palace window
from the glory of the
pyramids to the hunched
backs of foreign-looking
workers (their brows
bleeding sweat, their
hands caked in mud):
why does the strength
in their aching arms
trouble his dreams
each night?
Why are the Egyptians
afraid of the Hebrews?
What makes the general
in his chariot stop and
shiver at the distant
echo of a birthing scream
rising from the hovel
where the great-granddaughter
of a half-starved refugee
is delivering a son?
Oh God, please just
help me understand:
why are the Egyptians
afraid of the Hebrews?
What makes an aging
civilization, haunted
by mirages of its own
bygone youth, turn away
from its treasure cities
and toward the straining
figures of desperate families
determined only to choose
life—what makes them give
the order to tear children
from their mothers’ arms?
Wow, James! This is absolutely amazing.
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