"Now King David Was Old," poetry

First Edition: LukivPress Online (Quesnel, BC), 2011.

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

Introduction

Written by Jeremiah in 580 BCE, First Kings covers 129 years (1040 to 911 BCE), and describes a period of peace, security, and prosperity under Solomon's reign. But even during his 40-year kingship of Edenic and future paradisaic overtones, apostasy finds a foothold in Israel-through Solomon's multitudinous marriages to women who worship foreign deities. In 997 BCE, after Solomon dies, the nation divides into two kingdoms: the southern, Judah, included the tribe of Benjamin; the northern included the ten other tribes. Both kingdoms, essentially dysfunctional (spiritually), suffer from the bad examples of many apostate kings.

An excerpt

Chapter 1

"The most difficult of arts,"

Said Mary Nutting, sister to

Abishag, Shunem's blossom,

The king's companion.

O Deborah to Rebecca!

Unborn Naomi to unborn

Obed! Sisters, to men and

Women, who heal with the

Warmth of touch and blankets,

And remedies in worn pouches

And strange bowls. Ah! Paul

Too, unborn, and his friends,

"Nursing mothers." Ah!

Let the tenderness and zeal

Of the strong pass on hope

And comfort to the weak,

Even those fading into the

Deeper sleep.

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).