ON THE MORNING OF
THE 41st DAY
Rabbi
I see you sent
that evil one
packing
as if a
prophet like you
or a god like me
would worship
such as that
something so tacky,
brimstone-stinky, suffused
with unholy pride
not that you or I are free of this failing
each of us in our own way
making an adjustment
so, I’m here to chat
pitch for
peaceful co-existence
though I am (amongst other things)
god of wine
I regret I did not bring any
with me to enhance this occasion
(though as god of wine
it must have struck you
that I would have got to hear
of the miracle at the wedding
such a sublime, spontaneous transformation,
and what fine vintage — all
respect to you)
but I do have some bottled water
that they gave me on the plane
on my flight from the Greek mainland;
as for those Greeks, do
not believe all they have
written about me, about
my love of blood sacrifice, mass slaughter,
the tragedy of life and
other such drama
being like you
half
human born
set on a perpetual trajectory
of death and resurrection
such an admirer of your anger
in scattering the moneylenders
and what you just did
to that
hater of
mankind
calling himself a
“fallen angel”
for here we
share something deeper than
either of us, though divine, can ever
really fathom
our love for and bond
with mankind
a love, I must admit, not
identical in kind
yes, I see in your eyes, your
condemnation for my
disposing of Pentheus (that drooling, fooling-himself,
fatally repressed high-minded fascist)
but I was
simply giving that Caesar
what was due unto that Caesar
and what
is due unto you, I would offer
reverence if reverence were possible
nothing have I to give
but
the soul of
what I am
that you as
fellow divine and mortal
know
all too well
the suffering of a god — a god
that fears he has
no place in your Kingdom
for
you turned the water to wine
healed the sick, ministered
to the poor (people of
my heart too)
you danced, something in
your words
cannot resist
the dance
but I have words
in my domain, words that
destroy or create demons, unleash
the power of holy or
unholy storms
can break
the human heart
snap it
with joy, seal it
with sadness
what place for
this? For me?
which is why my
brother, friend
I have
journeyed here.
