Noah’s Wife Talks Back

By Eve Lyons

I don’t know what he was thinking.

He comes home one evening,

announces we have to pack up all our belongings,

all our animals, all our family

build an ark.

He said God spoke to him

I said, Why now?

The world has gotten dark

The world has fallen into violence

The world has succumbed to hatred and fear.

I said, It has been that way for years

So why now?

Why give up now?
Why walk out on the world,
Why destroy everything
rather than start the hard work
trying to repair it?

He didn’t listen.
They build, they argue, they fight
They destroy and argue some more.
Then they take their toys and go home.
I don’t know whether I’m talking about God
or my husband.
Some days
they’re indistinguishable.

In the end, God came around
to seeing it my way:
As soon as the flood waters receded
as soon as the earth dried
as soon as the rainbow appeared
God pledged never to do it again.
But it was too late
for my neighbors, my friends, my city.
Wayward and disturbed perhaps
it was my home.


Previously published in the anthology Covenant of the Generations (February, 2013)