"In the Eighth Month in the Second Year of Darius," poetry

Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC), 2022.

Introduction

In 518 BCE, Zechariah, the prophet, writes: "'Return to me,' declares Jehovah of armies, 'and I will return to you.'" (Zechariah 1:3). Repatriated Jews (many from Babylon) need Jehovah's hand of protection against surrounding hostile nations, but they also need to refocus their energy to rebuild the temple. Would that protection, then, include Jewish military might? We find the answer at Zechariah 4:6: "'Not by a military force, nor by power, but by my spirit,' says Jehovah." This prophet, along with his contemporary, Haggai, spiritually energize the people to do their God's will-complete the temple work! Now, even more than 2500 years later, Jehovah's people today find encouragement from Haggai and Zechariah to do Jehovah's will, in these last days of this system of things, which includes Christian preaching worldwide.

An excerpt, a poem based on chapter one of Zechariah

At home among stones,

These shrub-trees-

Do they rejoice while snow

Falls, while their white

Flowers scent the earth,

While their blue-black

Berries offer up fragrance

To hungry teeth? Their

Oil, spicy, their branches,

Roofs for huts at the

Festival-see, the stinging

Nettle runs away,

The wilderness says,

"You are my guest!"

Bushy, like a foxtail,

You provide a place for

Horses-red, white, and

Reddish-brown. See,

Riders from another realm,

Where abodes cannot

Be measured or plumbed-

They look forward

To horned nations

Falling.

The author

Dan Lukiv, published in 19 countries, is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). As a creative writer, he apprenticed with Canada's Professor Robert Harlow (recipient of the George Woodcock Achievement award for an outstanding literary career), the USA's Paul Bagdon (Spur Award finalist for Best Original Paperback), and England's D. M. Thomas (recipient of the Cheltenham Prize for Literature, Orwell Prize [biography], Los Angeles Fiction Prize, and Cholmondeley award for poetry). He attended The University of British Columbia (creative writing department), the acclaimed Humber School for Writers (poetry writing program), and Writer's Digest University (novel writing program).