My father, Jacob

Poem - My father, Jacob

Proper 13 year A
Genesis 32: 22 – 31


My father didn’t have a limp before.
He said he’d wrestled with a man all night
and, though he claimed he’d never given in,
his injury had proved his need to fight.

We’d left him at the far side of the stream.
He often had a need to be alone.
My mother said the place did not feel safe,
but father said he must be on his own...

31 July 2011, Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Genesis 32: 22-31, poem, Jacob,
wrestling, strength, name, God, injury, endurance