Machpelah   ROBERT MANASTER   An unsandaled Abraham, Sand crusting his knees after he's risen From Sarah's body, gracefully insists That he himself buy a piece Of land: the cave of Machpelah, a place of stone, A name of stone at edge of Ephron's field. Ephron, in turn, freely offers the whole field— Cave, trees, and all. Thus, in public Both display the lavish colors of a sale: Abraham's royal blue, an outsider's blue, And Ephron's unearthed red, a shepherd's red. They offer in public a doubling of east winds, A history of naming: The field of Ephron in Machpelah, The field of Machpelah: A place within a place Like a stone's throw into the deep, a rippling Into which Hebron casts her hand. And Hebron: The domes on a plain, A fist near a lover's body, a torched Bottle near faces of children, a burial stone Carved into a field: As if rest from sun, The hot wind stroking a field's skin And the color of water shrinking, As if rest from trees— a droning Throughout unsettled brush and grass— As if rest were welcome. Robert Manaster has work published or forthcoming in various journals including Many Mountains Moving, Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion, and Wisconsin Review. He has also been a finalist in book competitions at Story Line Press and New Rivers Press. TLR Web home page