after “Abraham’s Sacrifice” by Albrecht Altdorfer (German), 1520-25

Isaac kneels before the altar’s burning pyre.
On his shoulder, father’s hand. Is it for comfort
or to hold him still? Behind Isaac, Abraham
looks away, raising the long knife. Black smoke billows,
forming his son’s screaming profile in the sky.

Abraham had reassured Isaac with wordplay:
“God will see to the sheep for the burnt offering,
my son.” Now his tunic drapes from the waist, back bare.

Would a good father, without protest, sacrifice
his only son, whom he loves? Why does the Father
distance child from parent? A winged angel swoops,
arms extending, face an umbra, unknowable,
horrifying. Then Abraham sees the eclipse
of a small life: ensnared in a thicket, the ram.