Lot's Wife

I have become a gate
To the ruined city, dry,
Indestructible by fire.
A pillar of salt, a white
Salt boundary stone
On the edge of destruction.

A hard lesson to learn,
A swift punishment; and many 
Now seek to escape
But look back, or to escape
By looking back: and they
Too become monuments.

Remember me, Lot’s wife,
Standing at the furthest
Commark of lust’s county.
Unwilling to enjoy,
Unable to escape, I make
Salt the rain of the world. 

--Howard Nemerov (1921-1991), US poet laureate 1963-1964 and 1988-1990, winner of the National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, and the Bollingen Prize, from The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov, 1977.

Scripture reference: Genesis 19:1-29 and Luke 17:32, Pentecost 28 (33) C

Image: Lot's Wife, pillar overlooking the Dead Sea, Jordan.