Brimstone
On the memories we make.
The salt lick stands weathered on the hill where shepherds drive their herds before the kill. Once-fertile fields in the valley below have become pass-through roads for pilgrimage— I still see mirage embers glow as if the fire was yesterday, embracing our home. We did our best to escape with courage, for family—leaving our flocks to roam— they didn't make it past where the dawn ties in- -to the earth, devoured on the horizon. My lot in life, recoiled in shockwave lies. Bursting regrets and strife billowed black smoke clouding our sight under burning skies— the image was cast the day my wife looked back.
Sodom and Gomorrah by Henry Ossawa Tanner, digitally enhanced, Wikimedia Commons.
Inspiration
The speaker in this sonnet is a fictional representation of Lot, reflecting on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis.
It began with a thought of Lot fleeing, and losing his wife when she looked back. Presenting Lot’s wife as a salt lick (which possibly did happen if animals ever passed by her pillar-of-salt-remains) is thanks to growing up in Alabama.
From there, as I continually drafted this work, I put myself in Lot’s shoes. How I might remember something so traumatic if I were to revisit the place it happened?
The middle of the poem came last, and was inspired by these additional concepts.
Psalm 84, which speaks of God’s dwelling place, and our journey in life.
Archeological evidence of an airburst that devastated the Jordan valley in the Bronze Age. "A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea"
Lot settled in greener pastures, only to lose the life he built.
Lot’s family bore the consequences of his decisions. The usage of flocks in context of the second line using shepherding is intentional.
The poem is meant to tug on the eternity heart strings that God has placed in us all, by emphasizing the futility on investing all we have in this current life.
Psalm 84:5 NIV
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.