Ishmael’s Sonnet
They called me
Ishmael. I was a first
Who wrestled with the "bastard" name though I
Was built as "normal" boys. With Mother, I
Was built as "normal" boys. With Mother, I
Was cast into the desert. Struggling first,
I'd often hide myself. I'd lie about
My essence in some feint of normalcy
That let me pass. As I was outwardly
A normal boy, I need not always out
Myself. And yet the loss of me within
Such phantom lives did further damage. In
Such feints I slandered parents, slandered, too,
The Lord whose kingdom lay within me, too.
The "stain" of "bastard" washing had erased.
What a lovely pun!
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