Ditch the ads, upload images and much more - upgrade today from 5.95/month!
Read • Contests • Groups • Learn • Forums • Store • Help
 

Rahab

Oh, Rahab was a harlot bold!
(Conduct to make a preacher frown!)
Yet she revealed a heart of gold
When Jericho came tumbling down!

Skilled in the "oldest trade that plies"
She succoured (so the story's told)
Two of the "second-oldest" (spies!)
Oh, Rahab was a harlot bold!

She hid them on the roof with care,
Beneath the flax-stalks bedded down
(Why did chaste Israelites lodge there?

Conduct to make a preacher frown!)

 

"Kill all within!", the watchword flew!

"No! From one house your blades withhold!

Spare Rahab's home! A harlot - true!

Yet she revealed a heart of gold!"

 

Later she wed (some harlots can!)

And so she won fame's lasting crown

- Foremother of the Son of Man -

When Jericho came tumbling down!

Author notes

Rahab's story is, as I am sure you know, in the Book of Judges. But if you wonder what this is doing among Advent poems, please look up the genealogies in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke which specifically mention her as an ancestress of Christ!

And the Byzantine church calendar - both Catholic and Orthodox - celebrates the final Sunday before the feast of the Nativity as the feast of the "Ancestors of Christ".

A contest entry

Please do not feel obliged to comment - and if you do comment, please understand it may be some time before I get back to you!

    : , Your review:

    Comment Suggestion: What is your your first impression?
    • Line numbers  • Invite them to read
    : no Cost: 0 free left 0 points, You have (?)

Comments

1 - 17 of 17

  • ourgirlFriday
    December 30, 2008
    Edit | Reply

    I prefer Judith myself,

    but yes, there are quite a few 'outsiders' like Ruth and Tamar in Jesus' geneology.


  • storiesuntold gold member
    December 2, 2008
    Edit | Reply

    Well done here

    Written very well with depth and perfection indeed


  • Avatar of Innocence
    July 31, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    Hi. This is Avatar of Innocence. This poem was entered in a previous contest that had the theme that allowed prostitutes and whores. It doesn't really fit my contest theme now, because I focus on COURTESANS.

    Consider this, then enter another poem, if you like:

    All courtesans may be prostitutes, whores, harlots. But not all of these can be courtesans.

    • Vera Rich
      August 1, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      re Rahab: - fair enough. BUT she must have been at the VERY top end of the profession to have had not only a house of her own, in a choice position on the city wall but also to have owned something scarlet (a VERY expensive dye) to put in the window. (For it must surely have been hers - it seems most unlikely that the spies would have had something scarlet with them!)


  • Edna Sweetlove
    July 7, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    It is interesting to find that there is something of value in the bible after all. Rahab must be the only real character there.


  • Keith
    July 7, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    A wonderful choice for the gold
    A profession, though ever so old
    May still reveal smiles
    Across history's miles
    And as for the story? I'm sold

    I'm off to get out my Bible. Well done. K.

    And if I may recommend a film, watch out for Julie Depardieu in Les Femmes de l'ombre. Excellent.

  • ecrivain01
    July 6, 2008
    Edit | Reply

    Good job ...

    and good luck in the contest.

  • Avatar of Innocence
    July 6, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    Fucking Brilliant Write. This is what I was looking for. Not exactly a biography, but an insight into the mind-frame of this "courtesan". Though I don't really care for form poetry, this poem is quite outstanding.


  • Pandorea
    February 21, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    hey...this is interesting. not quite what i was looking for but a good read nevertheless. i like the flow and rythmn to it.


  • nightshade10
    December 8, 2007

    Edit | Reply
    Interesting write. I too found the story of Rahab very intersting when I first read it. This is a very well written poem. I love how certain lines are repeated, that gives it a very distinct, constantly moving flow.

    Thanks for entering this in my contest.

    • Vera Rich
      December 19, 2007
      Edit | Reply
      Well, the poem is in Nekaro form (so called because it was invented simultaneously by three poets - Bob NEwman, Elizabeth KAy and Paul ROche), and the repeated lines are what define that form!


  • Blue Rew silver member
    November 18, 2007

    Edit | Reply
    Wonderful...a tale told with creativity and seamless rhyme and flow. I adore repetition when done right and this is an exceptional display of talent & form.
    Blue


  • Danna Hobart
    September 2, 2007

    Edit | Reply
    Thank you for entering. I enjoyed this tribute to Rahab. Those who would judge the working girls today would do good to remember that even God loves them too.


  • Wayne Leon Learmond
    August 25, 2007

    Edit | Reply

    Wonderful Writring

    This is just stunning writing here. I love it. The flow and imagery are impeccable. A wonderful piece of writing that I really enjoyed reading. Well done.

    All the best
    Wayne

    • Vera Rich
      August 25, 2007
      Edit | Reply
      I am glad you like it... Sorry... I am not able to do more than thank you for your comment.... I am very exhausted at the moment and a combination of bronchitis and several overdue deadlines...


  • adios muchachos gold member
    August 15, 2007

    Edit | Reply

    Dear Vera

    When my eyes first spied this title, I saw "RE-HAB", and I said to myself, "Dear God, what does she know about "RE-HAB"?
    Then my eyes became a little bit more accustomed to the screen and it was as if a great weight had been lifted from me. But actually, thinking about it a bit, the primary goal of both places are akin to one another, would you say?

    Hi:
    Just stopping by and snooping here and there.
    This is just a great entry for a contest like this!

    My brother told me that once while serving in Viet Nam
    he availed himself, and a friend of his, to the services of the local "gaming" house.
    While he was there, about a platoon of Viet Cong soldiers came with about two officers. And he and his friend, with only their sidearms!
    They hid in the loft for about three hours, and the lady, in truth, never gave them away!

    Well, take care of yourself. Hope all is well!

    John-Nevada USA



1 - 17 of 17