Sarah Braik, studied Theological Studies at Episcopal Divinity School, member at Maine Chapter of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, lives in Portland, Maine.
NOAH’S ARK
Sarah Braik
I.
After 40 days cooped in the ark like a common chicken, God chooses me, the magnificent Raven, to test the waters.
I fly out of the dank ark, delighting in the beat of my wings against the humid air.
I fly, and fly, and fly
to the east, the north, the west, the south.
Water, water, more water, this water that has drowned my entire race,
save my mate; the water is endless.
I tire, I am so weary-aha! A promontory
of dry land. I alight, but there is nothing here to sustain me
for the return flight.
The story told about me doesn’t say what happened to me.
Do I die from hunger?
Do I fly until, exhausted, I plummet and drown?
Animals, women; the Bible is all too often silent about us.
I shall leave you guessing about my fate.
II.
When raven does not return, Noah chooses me, the humbler dove.
I don’t know why he ever picked that uppity raven.
Always squawking about something.
I won’t miss him.
I fly out over the waters,
looking, looking for a place to land.
Back and forth, determined to do better than that raven.
Finally I turn back; there is no place to rest.
I alight on Noah’s outstretched arm.
He is pleased with me.
III.
After resting seven days, I am dispatched again.
I am renowned over all the earth for returning that very night with the olive branch
that I found clinging to a sad olive tree leaning on a hillside.
IV.
Another seven days; he bids me fly out again.
Not far off, I see land, dry land-desert scrub, cragged mountains, rushing streams.
I alight near a wadi and peck about.
Aha-a worm that God has spared just to sustain me!
Praised be the Lord God, blessed be He.
You will also have heard of my descendant
Who lands on Jesus as he rises from the Baptismal waters of the Jordan,
God’s emissary.
It is not only Jesus who is the chosen beloved of God.
I, the lowly dove, am also God’s beloved.