Uvi Poznansky: Then the two lovers will unfurl my scroll together

Friday, November 7, 2014

Then the two lovers will unfurl my scroll together

I close my eyes and new psalms come to me, which I commit to memory so that I may write them in my scroll, later that night. Thinking of Tamar I hum softly, I sing, “In embroidered garments she is led to the king. Her virgin companions follow her, those brought to be with her. Led in with joy and gladness, they enter the palace of the king. Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You will make them princes throughout the land.”

I draw long, slanted letters in my mind, and ask myself, Who will run their eye through my writing? Who will be swept by this ache I feel, this longing for my long lost girl?

In reply, my mind takes a new spin. It invents my readers out of thin air. Seeking a secluded place, two lovers will come here one day in the distant future, sometime in the years, decades, and centuries after my body has long crumbled into dust.

Here they will spread a blanket upon the earth, and reclining upon it they will take in the smell of of fallen leaves, and listen to the dry crinkle, and to the chirping of birds returning here, to their wintering grounds, as even the stork in the heavens knows its seasons.

Then the two lovers will unfurl my scroll together. They will take turns reading it to each other, filling in some of the words where the ink has faded.

When that autumn comes I will be here, present but obscure, like dust, blanketed. I will hear their voices, breathing life into my poetry, endowing it with their own spirit, their love.

David in my novel, The Edge of Revolt

In many ways, this part of David's life is reminiscent of King Lear, as he suffers the betrayal of his children, with a single exception: unlike King Lear, David manages to come back to power. This novel explores his the mystery of his lack of response following the rape of his daughter and the murder of his son--but then, when his son Absalom (and later, his son Adoniah) tries to topple him from the throne, David rises to the challenge and devises way to survive.

If you enjoy King Lear, you will enjoy this novel.