The Stars Bow Down, by Alfred D. Byrd, has been published through Lulu (www.lulu.com). Asenath's Tale, along with free access to an eight-page excerpt of its text, is available at The Stars Bow Down.
Book Description:
In THE STARS BOW DOWN: AN EPIC OF JOSEPH, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine, appears anew in verse that captures the dignity of the Biblical narrative, but is as fresh and immediate as today's headlines. Share Joseph's thoughts and feelings as he meets betrayal and false accusation, but also vindication and love, on the road to reunion and reconciliation with a family that he once thought lost to him forever.
Excerpt:
The following excerpt from The Stars Bow Down is Copyright © 2009 by Alfred D. Byrd.
For days now, camels have carried on a caravan’s path
A youth who, yielded by treason to the yoke of a slave,
Has sunken deep in the sorrow of one sundered from hope —
One cursed to be cast from life’s crest to its caves of despair!
Retracing his travels’ path, he trusts to learn
Why the God Who guided Jacob to a goal long desired
Has abandoned his favorite boy to a burdensome lot.
This moves him to reach for a reason for the ruin of his hopes
And goads him to ask what good his God can achieve
By sealing the favored son to sudden downfall.
His road’s beginning arises from the realm of hindsight
In faces of mother’s favor and father’s pride
That looked on Joseph, their joy, as the jewel of their eyes,
And in hands that held him to comfort his heart when it trembled,
That steadied his feet when he stumbled in the steps of a learner,
And that gave him presents to praise him for his promise of greatness,
Though others, his elders, might claim the heir’s position.
Not all, though, equaled his parents in their honor to him.
Joseph, though just a child, learned jealousy’s speech
From the tongues of ten, his brothers, who took offense
At the son’s of a second wife receiving the love
That they reckoned rightly theirs by rank of begetting.
A barrier born of envy barred young Joseph
From the fruit of his brothers’ friendship and froze him instead
Into life as the lonely favorite of loving parents
Heedless of growing hatred in a house of four mothers.
About the Author:
Alfred D. Byrd has published with iUniverse:
Thistledown
Through the Gate of Horn: The First Thread of the Dhitha Tapestry
The Ghost of Pelfrey's Bend
On the Wings of Dream: The Second Thread of the Dhitha Tapestry
Trinity, Canon, and Constantine: Clear Light on the Early Church
All of these books are available from www.iuniverse.com, or from Amazon.com and other major on-line booksellers.
Alfred D. Byrd has published with Lulu:
Asenath's Tale
Between Two Fires
In the Fire of Dawn: The Third Thread of the Dhitha Tapestry
Kabbalah for Evangelical Christians
Perryville
The Road to Bull Run
A Convergence at Shiloh
A Song of the One
The Stars Bow Down
To Dream Atlantis
All of these books are available at Alfred D. Byrd's Lulu Storefront Click on Preview This Book to read the book's opening pages!