Old Man Israel

by Sarah Emtage

Old Man Israel 
by Sarah Emtage

Israel blesses his sons as
they shelter from famine
on foreign land- and
switches his hands
from older to younger.
He has known hunger
and once even youth.
He has been forced
to face up to the truth.
Heel-grabber, homebody,
coward, and fraud,
a wandering shepherd,
a wrestler with God.
His eyes have grown dim
like his father before him
but he is not fooled
in the blessings he gives.
He tells fortunes, and failures,
a curse, and a crown
with the last of the life that he lives.

---

Sarah Emtage is a poet, playwright, sculptor, and library technician in Kingston Ontario. She has written two poetry books: Paperscape and The Second Rate Poetry of S. M. Emtage, a picture book called The Time Wager, a stage adaptation of The Princess and the Goblin, and a radio play series called Sound Castle. You can see more of her work at scribblore.com.

“Owl's Head and Skinner's Cove, Lake Memphremagog” by Cornelius Krieghoff. 1859.