December 29–January 4 ❘ Another Exodus

Another Exodus

Maybe Laman and Lemuel thought Moses
was a founding myth or metaphor
for Israel’s will to live free.
Maybe they believed he really had lived—
a trickster who twisted free of Egypt
to become ruler by dint of cunning—
but who can divine embellishment
from truth after centuries of retellings?

          So in the wilderness,
they mourned flesh pots of home
and wondered that Jerusalem
should lack graves enough to hold them.
They murmured at every setback,
grew complacent in success.

Nephi took manna literally.
When he hungered, he made a bow
and hunted. When he reached the sea,
he dug for ore, forged tools, built a boat.
He believed and went and did

          as though he could part water
and make a highway to the promised
land by filling the ocean spoonful
by spoonful with dry earth
at the Lord’s command.

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