Note: This poem originally appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of CRUX (Vol. 57, No. 2).
Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbours, empty vessels and not too few."
—II Kings 4:3,ESV
Marriage to a prophet's son ensured
no want of household words,
though on another's dime.
Over time, clairvoyance incurred
debt. Yet this window knows unseen reserve:
divine mandates still hold;
sons cannot be repossessed.
The new seer takes in her nerve.
Instructions are clear: shut the door;
array your emptiness, filling
borrowed pots with faith's intent;
ignore your boy's trying eye, and pour.