The poem by Wilfred Owen I mentioned in class last Monday when showing pictures of the ‘aqedah (binding) of Isaac from catacombs and synagogues follows below. It was written in July 1918 after he was wounded and invalided, before being sent back to Amiens in September. He was awarded M.C. in early October and killed on Nov. 4, 1918.

The parable of the old man and the young

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.

But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.