Hosannah! Hosannah!
You must see the dead.
Pin them center stage, framed by arches.
Blow them into red and blue glass to
light your churches through their filter.
Worship them.
Om! Om Mani Padme Hum!
You must see the dead.
Present them on pedestals,
in plush-ornate carrying cases.
Flush their fluids with formaldehyde.
Sit with them for weeks.
Remark how well the waxy ones are groomed.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
You must see the dead.
Trade relics of martyrs like baseball cards
(the worse the death,
the more cherished the bone).
Crown them with barbarous briar and hovering halos.
Ascribe miracles to these mortals,
as if burning bush tricks are meant
for less than a ruler of the universe;
as if grace and death are co-resident twins;
as if the dead hold the only wisdom.
(If they're so smart,
how come they're dead?)
Ecce Signum! Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison!
You must see the dead.
Glue them to dashboards.
Place them in gardens.
Hang them on walls.
Dangle them on chains.
Kill in their names.
Ask for rescue by a father which art
watching his son bleed to eternal death.
Tell me I will not be saved until
I have swallowed your dead.
I have no appetite for redeemable-coupon corpses.
I have no satanic muses,
no long-dead daemons,
to exorcise
or fear.
I do not understand necromancy.
I know the dead as scribes of the book of life.
Plant them fast in plain pine to fertilize the tree of life.
Mourn them not too little, not too long.
Know death as merely the consequence of living,
not the whole
heaven and hell
point of it.
I cannot embrace necromancy.
Here is the reward; here on earth,
in this open-eyed covenant,
this watchful wary living,
this weariness,
this woe,
this salt.
In this kiss
that came before
the crucifixion.
I do not live in a necropolis; I live in Torah.
Hashem, blessed be, as it is said,
stopped Avraham from making Yitzak another hunting trophy;
this from the god with a mighty hand and
an outstretched arm;
the vengeful, irascible deity of
Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, and Rachael,
Leah, Moshe, Daveed, and Yehudah;
the god of the lion
the one
who said:
Shema Yisrael... (Hear O Israel...)
With all your heart, all your soul, and all your might
Love life more than law;
Love living more than life's potential;
Love the woman undead more than the child unborn.
Adonoi Elohaynu... (Hashem, our god...)
With all your heart, all your soul, and all your might
When sitting in your house,
When walking by the way,
When rising up,
When laying down.
Adonoi Echod. (Hashem is one.)
With all your heart, all your soul, and all your might
Bind living words between your eyes, on your hand;
Nail them to your door posts;
Write them on your gates.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
Kiddish. Kadosh. Kaddish.
That the days of life may be multiplied
I say a blessing for washing my hands,
for combing my hair,
for burying the dead.
I must see breathing beings.
I must see each moment breathed.
I must eat each day's liver.
Only soil will swallow me when I am dead.