After the voice

After Genesis 22:1-14 and Hebrews 11:17-19

After my name is called

I drop the knife, hearing

the clatter on the stones

and the ram bleating

in its crown of thorns

I fall to my knees,

weeping, and reach

to the boy’s arm,

grasping

it as the sob breaks

from my throat.

I hear the sob

from the stone

Photograph by Circe Denyer via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.