"The Words of Nehemiah," poetry

First Edition: LukivPress Online (Quesnel, BC), 2012.

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

Introduction

As a trustworthy cupbearer and confidant, Nehemiah serves Persian emperor Artaxerxes Longimanus, in Shushan the castle. But once he learns that fellow Jews in Jerusalem "are in a very bad plight and in reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its very gates have been burned with fire" (Nehemiah 1:3), his demeanour, even before Artaxerxes, changes. A gloom pervades his heart. How will the emperor respond? Will he unleash rage on Nehemiah for infecting his royal space with dreariness? No! He gives Nehemiah permission to travel to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls! In spite of enemies such as Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, who conspire to discourage and frighten Jews into abandoning their restoration work, the walls stand completed and sound in just 52 days!-to the chagrin of surrounding nations that rejoiced for years over the spectacle of ruin that haunted Jerusalem. Nehemiah's courage and leadership provide the spiritual and physical inertia that drives this dramatic story. And yet, in terms of drama, Nehemiah (which covers over twelve years [456 BCE to after 443 BCE]) offers a great deal more than the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls in its only 13 chapters. It highlights Jehovah's unrelenting hand in matters concerning true worship and his chosen people.

An excerpt

Chapter 9

the shepherd

how frail,

the skeleton

of a wizened man,

above the billowy sheep

and grassy meadow-

how deep,

his dream,

warped as his spine,

distant as the wan moon,

heavy as the broad stone

on which he sits,

waiting for his bird,

bird of prey,

to ride,

come riding,

upon an empty wind,

with its belly in a grave,

to swoop down

and peck away,

once and for all,

the vision of a man

with brazen wings,

bearing beyond

the grey-blue peaks

above.

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).