A Knife Fight with Isaac

This story is usually told as a story about Abe’s faithfulness and his willingness to lose his son if it’s what God wants. But I've never heard anything about what Isaac might have lost that day. From any angle, this story cuts. 

(Genesis 22)

Did Isaac ever forget
The day his dad’s face turned
From a welcome to a goodbye?
Abe had waited for him, longed for him,
Dreamed of him.
And now could barely stand to look at him.

Can a boy forget
The time his dad took him up a beautiful mountain
With no intention of bringing him down?

Or did this day live between them
As a word they couldn’t say?

“Remember that time…”
Isaac might say,
“when the life and blood that pulsed through you
became a weapon formed against me?”

Did Isaac spend his life
With a part of his self
Still on the mountain?
Checking the shadows for
A threat or a savior?
Did he flinch
At knives
Or love?

More of us know
Than say out loud
What it’s like when someone we love
Carries us somewhere
And we can’t come back.

They lay you down
hoping the fear might kill you first.

And all your life
Your hands feel tied.
But you don’t say the word.