generation, got drunk and had sexual relations with his daughter-in-law. He, too, was fallible. Thus the ending of the Noah story confutes the beginning which says he was righteous in his generation.
Noah Receives and Gives
Noah’s father, Lamech, a direct descendant of Adam,
Sat face to face with his son
As they fished in iridescent waters
That would later overflow in heavy rains
And related to him the history of the world since Creation
As his father, the agéd Methuselah, had related to him
And as fathers before him related to their children for generations.
Each age had added to the history:
Their discoveries, inventions, tools, insights,
New emerging species of plants and animals,
Ongoing struggles, victories, defeats, hardships, triumphs, joys, grief,
Songs, stories, designs, crafts, trades,
And the trove of the family legends.
Noah learned how his forebears scribed speech,
Counted, added, found angle size, and measured time and space.
The gentle ripples of the water reflected who they had been
And who they would become.
So it was with Noah who sat at the river bank with his son Shem
After the flood.
“Look carefully at the arcing rainbow in the sky,” Noah urged Shem.
“The multihued bow is God’s Compact with us mortals.
Witness its Sublime Splendor;
Behold how the vaulting heavens fills with awe.
Never again Will God Flood Creation.”
What we must do, as God Taught Adam who taught his son, Seth,
And he to mortals since for all generations,
Is to revere with love the Creator and not worship false gods,
To respect life and take no one’s life,
To respect the sanctity of marriage and to shun incest,
To respect the property of others and rob no one,
To eat fruits, vegetables, cooked meat and fish but eat no flesh of a living creature,
To be merciful and judge every human fairly.”
And Shem taught these laws and human history to posterity.
Abram, direct descendant of Adam learned them from Terah, his father,
As they fished on the river banks watching the rippling, iridescent dappled droplets
Primed in the vaulting Heaven.
And he leaned them well.
Noah’s Tale: Version One
“Noah was a faultless man righteous in his generations who walked with God.” Gen VI, 9.
“Noah, Noah. Listen to Me.”
Noah felt a strange energy that wouldn’t let him be.
He howled a scream. A nightmare, no a dream.
“Noah, Noah. Listen.” Once again he heard a mystic sound
Within his mind and all around.
He left his bed, fearing his senses had fled.
I AM GOD, the Voice Declared.
Noah was awed but unprepared.
How can that be
That God would be Talking to me?
God Replied,
I Am always by your side.
Why Talk to me, Noah thought.
God Said, You are the one I have Sought:
Someone just and fair is hard to find
Then I Saw that you are gentle and kind.
Noah! Listen! This is what I Have Planned:
I Am Going to Flood the land
Because the people have defiled my Creation.
Everywhere I Look is abomination.
This is what I Ask;
And it is no simple task.
Build an ark strong enough to sail
In seas of a blustering gale.
Noah obeyed God’s Command;
Before relentless waters filled the land
He gathered creatures two by two
Those that walked and those that flew.
And they all entered the ark:
Creatures light; creatures dark.
His family came on board
As the rains gushed and pored.
After many days the creatures were uneasy
And more than a few became queasy.
Because the ark was rocking in each swell
And from the gasses dead fish expel.
Noah kneeled and started to pray,
He hardly knew words to say.
Then these words left his mind
They were the only words he could find.
Dear God Show us Mercy this day
To Forgive is Your Way.
Stop the rain; dry the flood.
Send a wind to scatter the crud.
A spume of water began to subside
And here
