Tobit's Song

Augustine could argue either way

for the burial of the dead. Since the dead

knew not the state in which they were left,

the point seemed moot. Yet God's recognition

of Tobit kept the argument alive.

The Ninevite who received the ire of Sennacherib

for burying his casualties, Tobit was exiled and robbed,

blinded by bird droppings while asleep in the streets.

But his marriage to the shrewish Hannah

produced a son that would carry God's blessing.

The angel Raphael guided Tobias to cool his feet

in the Nile,  catch a fish with his toe, extract

the organs and make a potion that healed

his father's blindness. To seal the deal, Raphael

cast the demon from the wife bequeathed to Tobias.

Aware of the marriage-bed deaths of seven previous

husbands, Sarah's father had already dug the grave

for Tobias, but he hadn't reckoned the presence

of Raphael nor the grave blessing God intended

to preserve in Tobit's lineage and his song.