Dreamer Lost ! Dreamer Found ! Part Two

Oh ! Canaan,not that Joseph was lost but you,
The best son of God you have failed to woo,
Ishmaelites forcibly took Joseph to Egypt afar,
Sold him to Pharaoh's official called Potiphar.


The Lord was with Joseph,so he prospered,
He did find success in everything he worked,
He found favour in the eyes of the guard Potiphar,
Whether the favour of his master lasted for ever?


Joseph lived in the house of Egyptian master,
The master progressed,wanted to do some favour,
Joseph was appointed his personal attendant,
All blessings due to Joseph Potiphar was confident.


Joseph took charge of Potiphar's field and household,
Master was free,only concerned with the food he ate,
Joseph was handsome,well-built and also bold,
Master's wife took notice of,began to contemplate.


"Come to bed with me" one day she asked,
Alarmed Joseph refused to do sin against God,
Betraying a generous master, a sin so wicked,
Joseph a man of character, unparalleled bard.


Often destiny plays down,on Joseph puts yoke,
To perform duty at master's house,he went about
None there, Potiphar's wife caught him by his cloak,
Lured him,leaving the cloak but Joseph ran out.


Frustrated and disappointed woman did shout,
To her household servants she said,he came to err,
The Hebrew slave wanted to make sport with her,
When she screamed,leaving his cloak he ran out.


Potiphar the eunuch believed the false accusation,
Immediately he put Joseph in to the king's prison,
By grace of God Joseph was in favour of the warden,
Warden put him in charge of the affairs of the prison.


Under confinement were the Cupbearer and Baker,
Who offended the king of Egypt the Pharaoh,
These two were assigned to Joseph's personal care,
That day the two were remarkably sad and low.


Both had a dream and none there to interpret,
Interpretations only God's,Joseph tried to get,
His faith in God in pit or in palace the same,
Asked for the dreams that made him in to fame.


"I saw in my dream a vine with branches three,
Whose clusters were ripened in to grapes in a hurry,
Squeezed the grapes in to Pharaoh's cup in my hand,
I gave back the cup to Pharaoh the king of the land".


'Three branches represent three days' Joseph said,
With in three days Pharaoh would lift up his head,
His position as Chief Cup bearer he would restore,
He would put Pharaoh's cup in his hand as before.


When things go right Joseph asked for affection,
For no guilt of his,Joseph suffered prison,
Pharaoh could release him from the dungeon,
He was innocent like unblemished pigeon.


' I too had a dream' the Chief Baker said,
That he had three baskets on his head,
The top for Pharaoh,contained goods baked,
But birds were eating them that was on the head.


'The baskets denoted three days,' Joseph said,
'With in three days Pharaoh would lift off his head,
And hang him on a tree where birds would visit,
And eat away his flesh' till the end of it.


The third day was Pharaoh's birthday celebration,
He gave feast to all officials on the day of his birth,
He restored the Chief Cup bearer to his position,
But the Baker as Joseph said was hanged to death.


Two full years had passed,Pharaoh was troubled,
He had two dreams,there none to interpret,
The king sent for wise men and magicians in Egypt,
They heard the dreams,blinked never interpreted.


The Chief Cup bearer reminded Pharaoh the king,
One Joseph in the prison could interpret anything,
As he did divine to the Cup bearer and the Baker,
One was restored,the other was hanged for ever.


The king summoned Joseph from the dungeon,
Neatly dressed Joseph appeared before the king,
The king for his two dreams needed interpretation,
God would answer his desires,Joseph was willing.


Egyptian King Pharaoh had two dreams,
Seven fat cows came up from the Nile River,
And munched on the reeds by the stream's,
The king disturbed in sleep did shiver.


Again he saw seven different thin cows,
Ugly and hungry,emerged from the river,
The thin cows ate all the fat cows alas!
The king stood turbulent and did bewilder.


In another dream saw heads of grains,
Healthy and full in the very same stem,
Further saw seven thin head of grains again,
All the seven healthy ones, thin did consume.


The two dreams conveyed one message fine,
Seven years of plenty, seven years of famine,
To happen,let the king be cautious for whatever,
Dreams came true as told by Joseph the dreamer.


Joseph wanted a wise man be put in charge
Of the land of Egypt for the seven years of plenty,
' Store a fifth of harvest of Egypt at large,
For seven years of famine by the king's authority'.




The king could find in Joseph the spirit of God,
God made known to him,he would be the right man,
If he be made in charge,he would work hard,
For Pharaoh and the people of Egypt as per plan.


" I put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt",
He put his signet ring on Joseph's finger,
A gold chain around his neck thus made him a ruler,
Looked majestic with finer linen and kingly chariot.


Joseph was made Second-in-Command to king next,
Without Joseph's words nothing could be done in Egypt,
Zaphenath Paneah was Joseph's new name,
Married to Asenath Potiphera with pomp and fame.


During seven years of abundance land produced plenty,
Joseph collected all the food,stored in the cities,
Grains were so much as the sands of the seas,
Two sons were born to Joseph when in prosperity.


First born Manasseh made Joseph forget his trouble,
Second born Ephraim made him doubly fruitful,
Famine began people cried to pharaoh for food,
Pharaoh guided them, at Joseph's door people stood.


Famine was so severe in the Egyptian world,
Joseph opened the store houses and sold grain,
All the countries came to Egypt to buy grain,
Famine was acute and severe far and wide.


Canaan not an exception too, to live or to die,
Sorrowed Jacob asked his sons to go to Egypt,
" Buy some grain,that we may live and not die",
Excepting Benjamin,the ten started for Egypt.


The brothers bowed to the Governor of the land,
As sun,moon and eleven stars they did stand,
Joseph recognised but acted like a stranger,
Spoke harsh,they thought they were in danger.


They unrecognised Joseph, queries they answered
They came from the land of Canaan to buy food,
Joseph called them spies,he did so conclude,
"We are sons of one man,honest not spies"replied.


Joseph persisted on the spying blaze,
"We are twelve born of one man"did deplore,
The youngest with father and the other no more,
They were kept in prison for long three days.


On the third day Joseph asked one of them to stay,
Others could go with grains back,Joseph did say,
But should bring their younger brother on return,
To verify their honesty,it was the only concern.


Brothers spoke to one another were so unkind,
Sin against Joseph flashed in each one's mind,
The plight of Joseph for life in the pit did depress,
They believed the blood of Joseph caused distress.


To take Simeon in to custody,Joseph took decision,
Ordered to fill their bags with grain and provision,
Each man's silver been put in to the sack as decreed,
One on the way found the silver in the sack indeed.


The Governor suspected them to be spies,
They were twelve of one man, they spoke no lies,
Younger one with the father,the other was no more,
Younger one they would bring,by honesty they swore


On emptying their sack found money pouches their own,
" You have deprived of my sons Joseph and now Simeon",
Jacob refused to send Benjamin,his brother was dead,
Any harm to Benjamin would take to grave his gray head.


" Grains bought from Egypt were all eaten"Jacob asked,
" Go back and buy now a little more",Judah refused,
Without Benjamin they could not go,they were warned,
Jacob confused why Benjamin was involved?


Judah assured Jacob,Benjamin would be back safely,
Jacob said to take the of products of Canaan,
Take balm, honey,spices and nuts from here on,
These gifts might find mercy in the eyes quickly.


Also urged to take double the amount of silver,
If that was by mistake placed,return it however,
Permitted to take Benjamin, he woefully sighed,
"As of me I am bereaved, I am bereaved" he cried.


With silver and Benjamin,they hurried to Egypt,
Joseph saw Benjamin with all brothers there at,
An animal be slaughtered and dinner made soon,
Joseph told,they were to eat with me at noon.


Brothers feared of being taken as slaves,
They brought back the silver that was in the sack,
Also additional silver to buy food pack,
Joseph asked them not to fear but be brave.


" Your father's God has given you that treasure
In the sack,I have received your due silver",
Then Joseph brought Simeon out to see brothers,
Steward gave to them water to their donkeys fodders.


They arranged their gifts for Joseph to see,
Also heard that they had to eat with him at noon,
When Joseph arrived they tried to feel free,
They bowed like,eleven stars sun and moon
.
About his dear father, he was probing,
" How is his aged father? Is he living ?",
Joseph recognized Benjamin without any doubt,
Is he your youngest brother you told me about ?".


" God be gracious my son"his feeling seated deep,
He hurried to his private room only to weep,
Managed his emotions,washed his face came back,
' Serve the food' he asked,all were taken aback.


Brothers were seated according to their ages,
From the first born to the youngest on the stages,
They looked in astonishment when portions served,
Benjamin's portions five times higher,never dreamed.


Joseph instructed the steward to do as he said,
Asked to fill the sack to its capacity with food,
And to put each man's silver into the sack,
Put silver cup in to the youngest one's pack.


In the next morn,they started with all food,
They had been obstructed on their way by the steward,
How could return evil for all kindness and good?,
You stole my master's silver cup,what a reward!


The brothers cried that they had not stolen any,
In kindness we only brought back silver and honey,
"One who has the silver cup will be my slave,
The rest may go"Joseph asked them to behave.


The cup was in the sack of the loved Benjamin,
Joseph said to have discovered guilt by divination,
Then all his brothers threw down in frustration,
Born of his old age,our father's loved one Benjamin
.
Judah offered himself to be a slave,
But asked,Benjamin to be left free,
If not,their father might die out of misery,
He would lay his gray head to the grave


"Have everyone leave my presence" he lonely wept,
Egyptians heard this cry,Pharaoh heard about it,
" I am Joseph " he exclaimed,"Is my father,
Still living ?blinked, his nervous brother.


Asked his brothers to come close, he and all wept,
" I am your Joseph the one sold in to Egypt,
Do not be distressed, do not be angry,
God sent me ahead of you to save lives from misery".


Famine would become severe of its kind,
No ploughing,no reaping,no one could find,
"God sent me ahead to save lives from misery",
Goshen a remnant on earth a deliverance in history.


" God made me father to King Pharaoh,
Lord of his entire household,ruler of all Egypt,"
Asked his brothers to hurry back to his father oh!
And that God made Joseph the lord of Egypt.


" Come down to me,do not delay,be near me,
You shall live in the region of Goshen a fertile land,
I will provide for you all just on my command,
The famine are still to come,destitutes will never be."


" Tell my father, the honor accorded to your brother,
Tell him what you have seen and heard,
Bring back my father quickly"then he embraced
Benjamin and all his brothers,kissed,tears ran over.


" Let your brothers go and bring back to the Pharaoh
Your father and families"promised the king hero,
To give them them the best land of Egypt as gift,
He gave carts to bring all families back to Egypt.


Pharaoh asked, not to mind their belongings,
The best of Egypt would be theirs,
Joseph gave them carts and all provisions,
To each of his brothers he gave new clothings.


To Benjamin he gave silver three hundred,
Five sets of clothes, best things of Egypt,
He gave to his father,a load of ten donkeys fit,
Female donkeys loaded with grain and bread.


With all paraphernalia,they came back to Canaan,
They met their troubled father with pomp newborn,
" Joseph is still alive,in fact he is the ruler of Egypt",
Jacob was stunned and in unbelievable episode he wept.


Jacob refused to believe,reluctant to consent,
They told everything,he saw carts Joseph sent,
For his father and kin to travel to Egypt,
His spirit revived,convinced and would never drift.


"My son Joseph is alive"aloud Jacob cried,
" I will go to see him before I die" he said,
Jacob setout with all that was his,
At Beersheba, he offered sacrifices for bliss.


God spoke to Jacob in a great vision,
God asked him to go down to Joseph's Egypt,
He promised to make Jacob in to a great nation,
Also promised to go with him in to Egypt.


God told Jacob that he would be back on His call,
And Joseph's own hand would close his eyes,
The sons took his father children and their wives,
Grand sons daughters,grand daughters and all.


Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph,
To get directions to meet him at Goshen,
Joseph got his chariot to go at the earliest,
To meet his father who loved him most.


Joseph threw his arms around his father,
And bitterly wept and shed a sea of tears,
Both of them wept and melted in to long years,
Oh! what a separation of father and son,same feather.


Amid sobs Jacob muttered " I am ready to die,
I have myself seen that you are still alive",
The dreamer was lost and the dreamer was found,
Jacob and kin settled at Goshen with fanfare and sound.


They had acquired property without any fears,
Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen long years,
Before Jacob died,from Joseph he got a promise,
That he be buried at their forefather's place.


Joseph swore to do so standing on the ground,
Jacob was running one hundred and forty seven years,
As per vision,Joseph closed his father's eyes of tears,
The dreamer was lost yet dreamer was found.


Joseph rose from pit to palace,it was clear,
The Lord was with him so he did prosper,
The dreamer, a dreamer and also a redeemer,
Saved suffering people when famine was severe.


Poet Tennyson's " Men may come.." does rebound,
Joseph here goes on for ever, a perennial stream,
Millions read Joseph the dreamer, an eternal dream,
The dreamer was lost yet the dreamer was found.


Yesupatham Savarimuthu.

Dreamer Lost ! Dreamer Found ! Part One

In the distant land of Canaan Jacob dwelt,
Wherein his father,an unknown stranger yet,
A vast expanse of wilderness to tend flocks,
In search of green moved amid hills and rocks.

The most loved Joseph just seventeen,he did run,
He would go and feed the flocks with his brethren,
The sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, he did engage,
Jacob loved Joseph more,being son of his old age.

He made a coat of many colours,a sign of love,
Made for Joseph,wished to be blessed by God above,
Father's love for his eleventh son made others hate,
Joseph dreamed dreams that made him ever great.

In the dream, they were working day and night,
Binding sheaves,Joseph's sheaf arose stood upright,
The sheaves of other brethren stood around and bowed,
Incensed with jealous asked him in a voice so loud.

Whether he had any dominion to reign over them?
Should they bow down to him or would he condemn?
The dream only fetched him not love but more hate,
The dream might fetch him later on greater estate.

In yet another dream the sun and the moon in a row,
Along with eleven stars bowed down,raised eye brow,
His father rebuked,parents who were like a crown,
With eleven brothers came to earth to bow down?

Brothers within fires of envy moved to Shechem,
Feeding their father's flock became their anthem,
Jacob ask'd Joseph to find his brothers and the flock,
At Dothan he found his brothers after a long walk.

'There came Joseph the dreamer' envied brothers said,
No love in the heart,only hatred,what be brotherhood?
Seeing Joseph afar,murmuring brothers calmly stood,
Conceived and conspired of shedding brother's blood.

They readied to kill and cast him in to a pit,
Then to make a lie to their father about wild a beast,
They wanted to see what becomes of his dreams,
Decided to kill before the set of evening beams.

The first born of Jacob,Reuben an idea did submit,
Shed no blood but cast him in to the pit,
A pit in the wilderness and a waterless pit,
Reuben wished to deliver, that was his mindset,

They stripped Joseph out of his coat of many colours,
Dishonest shame and cowardice spoke not of valours,
They drove the eleventh son into the pit darker,
The hell was within,the pit was empty with out water.

The heart with out love,mind with out reason,
To eat their own doom they sat,lo! what a treason,
A caravan of Ishmaelites with camels passed by,
Traders of spices Egypt bound,on the camels so high.

Judah now posed a question that so read,
"What profit there might be if we kill him on?"
Let not we shed his blood,not our hand fall upon,
He was none but our own flesh and blood,he said.

The brothers united in mind were content,
They agreed to sell the dreamer to Ishmaelites,
They pulled up Joseph and lifted him out of pit,
They worked out a deal for twenty silver shekles.

'Tooth for tooth','eye for eye' so we heard,
How much crude the mentality of the herd,
Now brother selling brother in to slavery,
Blood not so thicker,Oh! sold in a hurry.

Now Reuben returned but Joseph was not there,
He tore clothes of Joseph,returned to his brothers,
"The lad is not there,where shall I go?"he asked,
A kid of goat killed,in blood the coat dipped.

They came back to his father and showed the coat,
The bloody coat of colours dipped in blood of goat,
It generated once envy,jealous and vengeance,
Man so low,never showed nobler benevolence.

Father recognised the coat of colours that he made,
"Truly it is my son's",he bitterly wept and said,
A beast should have devoured,made him to pieces,
How deep the filial love of innocent Jacob to asses.

Jacob put on sackcloth as a penitence for ever,
A sign of mourning he could give up never,
All his sons and daughters came to him to comfort,
But Jacob refused and was found in discomfort.

"For I shall go down in to grave,
To my son in mourning" Jacob did brave,
Thus his father shed tears and at heart grieved,
He trusted all his sons and never disbelieved.

Jacob so timid only with a stick could walk further,
In his heart lived,Joseph and Rachel,Joseph's mother,
The villains of peace his sons together yet apart,
The favourite son no more,lost yet alive in his heart.

Yesupatham Savarimuthu.