But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
-Genesis 19:26
The righteous man then trailed Jehovah's guide,
Hulking and bright, across a ridge of black,
But in his wife a keening anguish cried:
“It's not too late for you. You can look back
upon your Sodom's old red towers, the square
where once you sang, the garden where you wove,
the emptied windows of the mansion where
you bore your children by your husband's love.”
She turned and looked. The bitter vision burned,
Welding her eyelids shut with mortal pain.
Into transparent salt her body turned,
As each quick foot took root into the plain.
Who weeps for such a woman, for so small
A loss in such a brutish circumstance?
Yet ever in my heart I will recall
That wife who laid her life down for a glance.