A Poem About Job's Wife

One of my problems with the Bible is that I often sympathize with the "bad guys" like Esau, Saul, and Job's wife, more than I sympathize with the heroes. In fact, I like so many of the minor Biblical characters that I am thinking of writing a volume of poetry entitled Bit Players about them. In any case, here is the first poem in that series. It is on Job's wife and I guess the theological point of it is that she never refers to God at all. Not to curse him. Not to call on his aid or comfort. He has simply ceased to exist for her and she derives a belief in the afterlife by hoping solely in natural processes.

I Have Seen Job

I have seen Job, head bobbing as he rides,
Muttering to his dead sons and daughters,
Stopping just before he reaches his tent
To bid them farewell

As offspring borne by newer wives toddle
Outdoors and cling to his grit-covered legs
Tattooed by boil scars, his papery skin
Reddening at their touch.

My hope lies in this sand his young ones brush
From their hands, for buried beneath these dunes,
I will again abide with the children.
I bore and buried.

As rubbed amber pulls feathers to itself
This stuff that was us will draw together,
Each speck circling the others as we dance
Sheltered by the earth.