Joseph Looks Forward Poem by Daniel Brick

Joseph laughed as he told stories
in his brothers' company, with
all of his Hebrew-Egyptian household
surrounding him. His grandchildren
cheered him as he pretended to bring
an ornery camel to a fresh stream of water.
The adults maintained a respectful silence
in the presence of Egypt's savior. He was
both the Hebrew Patriarch and a Prince of
Egypt. Joseph sat at the center of a series
of concentric circles: his brothers and
their wives and families, his Egyptian relatives
by marriage, friends and servants, all artfully
spread across the space in front of his palace.
Joseph's palace was Pharoah's gift for his years
of loyalty and service. But it was also Pharaoh's
palace. Pharaoh supervised building the largest and
most splendid palace for Joseph, it mocked all other
palaces. It was a sign and warning: a sign of Joseph's
solitary greatness and a warning to others - THIS IS
THE LIMIT OF AMBITION IN EGYPT.

Years of uncertainty and false imprisonment had
humbled Joseph, he was not the master of men
his titles proclaimed, he was still the shepherd boy
who prayed to his God at night, on the hilltops
where the flocks slept, under the burning light
of a multitude of stars. Even in his old age Joseph
was still a Child of God.

As he aged, he grew silent about dreams and prophecies
and the Voice of God in his heart. Beneath the precious
gowns and lavish jewelry, Joseph was simply a Man of Prayer.
Each morning he prayed in his heart, "Lord God, this is
your day dawning. Make me an instrument of your Will"
Each night he prayed, "Lord God, this is Your day
sinking into darkness. Make me an instrument of Your Will."

The end came quietly during a time of prosperity.
Joseph reclined on a couch with sweet incense swirling
in the air, and soft sounds of female harpists cushioning
thoughts, and peace was as palpable as silence. Joseph
gently stroked the fur of an orange cat nestled in his lap.
He suddenly spoke: "My prophecy is the Good Life in God's
World. My way of life has that which should accompany
old age, as honour, love, obedience, troops of friends."
He stopped stoking the cat. The cat looked up into his face
and saw the light fall out of his eyes as his body slumped.
And Joseph sleeps in Abraham's bosom...
And GENESIS closes in calm and confidence....