“But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?

Who am I that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

So He said, "I will certainly be with you.” Exodus 3 (11-12)

 

For Koo Okada

 

 

In the shadow of fire

I see Moses

trembling before the call--

his mission

leaping into light.

 

He bows low

on the summit of Mount Horeb

a weight of wonder

looming in white fire,

the beginning

in the branches, bursting,

what he would behold,

become, the now

of what burns away,

seneh falling

into flight.

 

And before it before me

present in the distance

the I am that I am

hesitating

within the thin

shell of self-restraint,

the life he would leave behind

a wife, two children of his own,

all right to refuse

rescinded. What other choice

could there be?

 

I hear him

voice the questions

without expectation of return,

“Who am I that I should go?

“Who am I that I should lead

the children?

 

An echo startles in the bush

fire rising like a white crown

thousands of years

in a dark sky. And again,

I hear the questions voiced

This time in Japan.

“Who am I that I should go?

 

Who am I that I

should teach the children?

Ten commandments

Ten points, I hold my hand

against my ear and listen -

a message of light inside my palm

waiting for familiar words

the whispered affirmation,

a voice of gold fire

that does not exactly respond

yet answers without answering,

“I will certainly be with you.

 

 

 

 

 

Susan Rogers

Copyright 2012