116 - Lot's Wife

Lot's Wife
By Gene Fendt

Sodom must not have been perfect in evil.
Not, at least, to Lot's wife, who could remember
days washed in sunshine, setting the clothes
to dry on prickly pear and eucalyptus,
talking to her neighbor with the sweet
clean smell rising around them.
Quotidian work, oblivious of evil,
too ordinary to be of note
to God, or Abraham, or Lot.

Knowing that, she lacked the one virtue
needed for decisiveness in life:
Don't look back. The thought of what you lose
would turn anyone to stone.