Pillar of Salt

Posted on 05 February 2010

In an illustration accompanying Genesis 19:26,
God’s impromptu fog of burnt sulfur
singes her nostrils, an ill-drawn hand hides

her face from the blaze of sin’s twin cities.
We don’t know whether Lot’s wife then poofs
to join purgatory’s whimpering conglomerate

or if she warranted a crueler sentence,
but we assume she didn’t make it
past Pete’s gate after she looked back.

note: I’m becoming a fan of Biblios’s Bible verse parallel translation tool, though Genesis 19:26 isn’t the best example of how widely translations can vary!