So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went, <br />And took the fire with him, and a knife. <br />And as they sojourned both of them together, <br />Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father, <br />Behold the preparations, fire and iron, <br />But where the lamb for this burnt-offering? <br />Then Abram bound the youth with belts and strops, <br />And builded parapets and trenches there, <br />And stretched forth the knife to slay his son. <br />When lo! an angel called him out of heaven, <br />Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, <br />Neither do anything to him. Behold, <br />A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns; <br />Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him. <br /> <br />But the old man would not so, but slew his son, <br />And half the seed of Europe, one by one.<br /><br />Wilfred Owen<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-parable-of-the-old-man-and-the-young/
