Poem: Joseph's Well

Joseph’s Well

 Thrown in a well because dreams I did tell

To brothers dear who could not understand

That I only meant well by that I told.

That me they would kill I could not fathom

Though from the well Reuben did retrieve me,

Into slavery he readily did

Sell me. Well, I can’t comprehend how he,

My dearest elder brother from mother’s

Sister who in a well would quell

The love for my father or for myself?

This confusion rages well within me

As now with me my master’s wife would sleep,

Yet well for his love she could not compete.

I dream no more here in this cell, yet here

Come men with dreams to tell and I know well

Their visions as once I had my own.

But brothers dear threw me into a well

Barren of water and my dreams now dry

Only to tell others of theirs in wells

Of thirst-quenching water while here I dwell

Interpreting well the dreams of others.

Bereft of father, brothers, dear mother—

The well will fill here with my tears as I

Reveal the dreams of others. Oh God,

Have mercy upon me who here in wells

Of sorrow betrayed by all I have loved,

Cry out to you well, the dreams of others.

Deliver me from the wells of my grief

In a well that is barren of water

And these damned dreams that now come from others.

 

January 2022

About this poem:

This is another poem about Joseph. He is a really fascinating character to me and I enjoy exploring his thinking lie in this poem. It's also a poem where I play with the word "well."