Leaving Elisha
Reading the 16th century Russian icon, “The Fiery Assent of the Prophet Elijah,” also called “Elijah on the Fiery Chariot.”
Tishbite of Tishbe, bidden to the brook,
Hidden to cherish Cherith, drying days—
The raven read your drought and went without.
He kept you, fed you, brought you bits of bread
and meat. He crowned your ground with silhouette,
wide wings, the markings of mendicant rook.
Dried up, the brook cried out, “Arise and go.”
You left and found a widow and her son
gathering sticks—like birds—to fix and mix
fire for their final meal. You said, “Fear not.
The meal shall not be spent, oil shall not fail.”
They kept you, fed you, brought you bits of bread.
You heard the Word and left the widow bird,
going as Gilead to bewilder Baal.
Upon your twelve, your testifying stones,
All was consumed in fire, fire of the Lord.
Baal’s prophets taught, you took them to a brook
That could not quench or counter with a cry.
Down in the Kishon brook, you killed them all.
“Enough, it is enough,” you said. “I’m no
Better than debtor drown, O Lord, please come
And take my life.” And laying down you slept
Beneath the broom, and soon, an angel came
And kept you, fed you, gave you bits of bread.
Your icon—Fiery Ascent—is written
Within these whirling winds of First and Second
Kings, in the words of birds and pilgrim bread.
So fed, you rise in elevated host,
The burning and unfailing oil of orange,
Drawn to the blessing arm of God, you go,
Leaving Elisha cloaked with fiery dawn.
Maura H. Harrison is a writer, photographer, and fiber artist from Fredericksburg, VA. Her works have appeared or are forthcoming in Amethyst Review, Dappled Things, Ekstatis Magazine, Solum Journal, Windhover, and others.
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