“When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.'” – Genesis 32:25-26

Breath in gasps,
Slipping grip,
growling throat,
flailing arms,
feet scraping the ground.

And suddenly

Hip on fire
Leg will not lever.

Hold on.

Hold on to win?
Hold on to survive.
Hold on to endure.
Victory passes in the night
in the unsocketed hip.

I will hold on, I say,
though daybreak come
and break me,
though night should fall again
and claim my fading sight.

I will hold on.
I will insist on blessing.
I will be overcome

And overcome.

A poem/prayer based on Genesis 32:22-31, the Revised Common Lectionary Alternative First Reading for Year C, Proper 24 (29).

The illustration is “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel” by Anonymous “Meister 1”, found in the World Chronicle by Rudolf van Ems (between 1350 and 1375) – Hochschul- und Landesbibliothek Fulda, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23797771.