Vorkosigan

Here's a poem I found in an old book of mine. I wrote it when I was 23.

"By evening it was known
That strange men had come to Sodom
And been feasted at the house of Lot.
Next door, a midwife climbed the steps, and brought
Clean linens, and a candle for a woman thrashing
Out her baby bloody-ragged on a barren floor,
While drunken men pounded on Lot's Door:
"Give us the Strangers!"
"Take my daughter!"
The midwife dipped her hands in muddy water
And wiped them on her skirt as Abraham
Wrestled with his God blinded men sought with
Nerveless hands the door and Lot argued
With his sons:
"Come, Flee with me," he said.
The midwife bent, intent:
"I can see the head!"
And Abraham pleading with his Lord
And Lot the strangers' call ignored
At sunrise
took his family to Zo'ar.
Then the plain was swept by blessed slaughter
-- The midwife, soaked in blood and water,
Held the child in her lap -- the world cracked
-- Its twisted face screaming at the dawn --
Behind him Lot's wife looked back
And Lo! Sodom and Gomorrah were gone.

Michael