Sport 17: Spring 1996

The Right Thing

page 136

‘Have you cracked
the snowfall's code
or the language of light?

‘How much honey
do the Pleiades hold?
Where is Orion unclasped?

‘What is the weight
of shadow
on a hardened heart?

‘How do the ten
standing orders of heaven
differ from sleep?’

‘I am a sod, Lord’
Job answered correctly.
‘I can answer nothing.’

Sheep were his reward,
good pasture and camels,
also daughters

and the defeat of foes—
Eliphaz the Temanite
and Bildad and Zophar.