Where Moses Crossed the Nuwebian Shore

05 May 2013

BPF
Where Moses Crossed the Nuwebian Shore

He ponders the tide caressing the beach -
Its ripples cross the glist’ning sand,
From Sinai’s cliffs sun-setting rays reach
Far-distant peaks that shimmer in desert heat.
Across the darkening sea, turquoise and blue,
The haze begins to change on Midian’s face, whereby
The golden russet transforms to purple hue,
As rays from sun-set reach across the sky.
A ferry sails by; its wake now washes ashore.
A gliding crane now lands on water’s edge;
The boat in port is seen no more.
On one leg, the crane surveys a rocky ledge.
The sun is hidden, the horizon dark,
The water is quiet, the air is still;
Jihad now scribes in sand and makes his mark,
A breeze so softly stirs the dust; a chill I feel.
Generations whose names, inscribed in shifting sand,
Now fade in the dusk, like the crane on the shore,
And those, who make ripples that die away,
Pass into port and are known no more.
My footprints are covered; what augurs await?
The ripples have died; generations come and go.
What names survive the sands of fate?
No Red Sea will part for me, this I know.
25 October 2012

Notes:
Midian is the mountain across the Gulf of Aqaba from Nuweba, located in Saudi Arabia, visited by Moses as referred in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 3.
Nuwebia is a small town on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt from which it is believed Moses crossed the Red Sea.
Jihad, a friend who was in service at the hotel, inscribed the names of our children and grandchildren in the sand at our feet.

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BPF

Love creativity - especially writing - poems especially. Love my wife, cats, our church, reading, warm weather (so rare here!) and snow - quite common these days - even in spring....

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