Poems (2) - Uzzah's Wife

Required Words From "Three Word Wednesday"

Tearful, adjective: crying or inclined to cry, causing tears; sad or emotional.

Unsteady, adjective: liable to fall or shake; not firm, not uniform or regular.

Abrasive, adjective: (of a substance or material) capable of polishing or cleaning a hard surface by rubbing or grinding, tending to rub or graze the skin, (of a person or manner) showing little concern for the feelings of others; harsh; noun: a substance used for grinding, polishing, or cleaning a hard surface.

Uzzah’s Wife

O. Kris Widmer

3 Haiku

from Three Word Wednesday

Required Words:  Tearful, Unsteady, Abrasive

2 Samuel 6:1-8

Pardon my weeping.

Unplanned death in the family

Tearful wife, I am.

Husband buried fast.

Unsteady ark cart to blame

Yahweh is cruel.

Motive conjecture

Now I’ll face a future of

Abrasive morals.

Uzzah’s Wife

O. Kris Widmer

Free Verse

from Three Word Wednesday

Required Words:  Tearful, Unsteady, Abrasive

2 Samuel 6:1-8

Pardon my weeping.

We’ve had a sudden death

in the family.

Yes, very sudden.

I don’t know.

Just be tearful, I guess.

I’m full of tears.

My husband didn’t deserve to die.

All he did was try to keep

the ark from being pitched down,

broken to splinters,

gold leaf scuffed onto the road rocks.

People whisper his motives,

the reasons he died.

They omit that he kept the unsteady ark

on the cart.

A hero in my book.

No there is nothing to do

but to roll the stone in place,

and face a future

filled with abrasive comments.

Scripture Reference:   Holy Bible    2 Samuel 6:1-8

1David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2He and all his men went to Baalah^a in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name,^b the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4with the ark of God on it,^c and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets,^d harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.

6When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

8Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.^e