TAMAR’S LAMENT
Tamar held him in her arms
And watched his spilled blood
Run down her robe to
Mingle with the semen
Splattered on her thighs.
Absalom stood overhead,
Wild eyed –
His knife baptized in his brother’s blood.
And in the wake of lust and bloodshed,
She began to cry –
Bitter tears,
That fell like hailstones into
Amnon’s open eyes,
On Absalom’s sandaled feet,
And down through brick and mortar
Onto David’s crowned head.
A scalding flood,
That stopped the feast
And forced David to swallow whole
The trouble in his house.
Connie