LEVITICUS CHAPTER 17 ~ 22

LEVITICUS 17

1 And YHWH spoke to Moses, and said
2 "Speak to Aaron , to his sons bred,
And say to all of Israel's folk,
'This is the thing of which YHWH spoke,
Commanding, 3 "Whatever man of
The house of Israel who for love
Kills ox or lamb or goat within
The camp, or who kills it for sin
Outside the camp, 4 "and does not bring
It to the door of meeting tent
To offer to YHWH as offering
Before YHWH's tabernacle spent,
The guilt of bloodshed be imputed
To that man, he's shed blood disputed,
And that man shall be cut off from
Among his people, 5 "to the sum
That Israel's folk may bring to yield
Their sacrifice from open field,
That they may bring them to YHWH at
The door of meeting tent where sat
The priest, and offer them as peace
Offerings to YHWH for their release.
6 "And the priest shall sprinkle the blood
On the altar of YHWH in flood
At the door of the meeting tent,
And burn the fat for a sweet scent
To YHWH. 7 "And they shall no more offer
Their sacrifice, to demons proffer,
After whom they have played the whore.
This shall be statute evermore
For them throughout their generations."'
8 "Also you'll say for their elations,
'Whatever man of Israel's house,
Or of the strangers, mouse or grouse,
Who live among you, who is nice
To offer a burnt sacrifice,
9 'And does not bring it to the door
Of the meeting tent and its store,
To offer it to YHWH, that man
Shall be cut off from his folk's plan.

I understand, Beloved, that You require
The folk to burn each goat in sacred fire
And in one place, because the fields abound
In every kind of satyr of the ground
And every god and goddess to be found,
All of whom thirst to steal the glory sound
That's due to You alone, divinely gowned.
That's why, Beloved, You tell the ancient race
To sacrifice their goats in that one place.
And that's why, though a desert goat myself,
And living among satyr and sweet elf,
I come to spill my blood upon the gate
Of fire and love in the place where You wait
Though it is in another store and state.

10 'And whoever of Israel's folk,
Or any stranger or the bloke
Who lives among you, and who eats
Any blood, I'll for his deceits
Set My face against that one who
Eats blood, and will cut him off from
Among his people, he's a bum.
11 'For the life of the flesh is in
The blood, and I've given it for sin
To you upon the altar to
Make atonement for your souls' due,
For it is the blood shed that makes
Atonement for your souls and sakes.'
12 "Therefore I said to Israel's folk,
'No one among you shall eat stroke
Of blood, nor shall any stranger
Who dwells with you eat blood's liqueur.'
13 "Whatever man of Israel's folk,
Or of the strangers, any bloke,
Who lives among you, and who hunts
And catches any beast or runts
Of bird that may be eaten, he
Shall pour out its blood in the lea
And cover it with dust, 14 "for it's
The life of all flesh where it sits.
Its blood sustains its life, therefore
I said to Israel's folk what's more,
'You'll eat no blood of any flesh,
For in its blood's life of all flesh.
And who eats it shall be cut off.'
15 "And every person not to scoff
Who eats what died or what was torn,
Your own land's native or one born
A stranger, he shall both wash his
Clothes and bathe in water that is,
And be unclean till evening's seen,
And only then he shall be clean.
16 "But if he does not wash them or
Bathe his body, his guilt's the more."

The Christian wield apparently's allowed
To sip the blood of pigged and ducked and cowed,
And thus makes such exception to this rule
That the onlooker's looked on as a fool.
I eat no blood of him that's died and torn,
Nor of the man who was of virgin born,
And so I shall not be cut off from them
Who are the stranger, nor from sacred gem.
Beloved, let me bear this law to the grave
And thus be in my blood Your humble slave
And keep the blood for You that other's gave.
Beloved, let me eat no forbidden thing,
Not that such law's the most important thing,
But that my voice shall still know how to sing.

LEVITICUS 18

1 Then YHWH spoke to Moses, and said
2 "Speak to Israel's children well-bred,
And say to them 'I'm YHWH your God.
3 'According to the way they plod
In Egypt's land, where you have lived,
You shall not do, and negatived
Also are ways of Canaan's land,
Where I am bringing you to stand,
You'll not do so, nor shall you walk
In their ordinances or talk.
4 'You shall observe My judgements and
Keep My ordinances in hand,
To walk in them: for I am YHWH
Your God. 5 'You'll therefore keep and do
My statutes and judgements, for who
Does so, shall live by them: I'm YHWH.

Between the land of Egypt and the land
Of Christian Canaan I come to a stand.
Beloved, Islam and Rome cast lots to be
The ruler of this soul that's been set free
In loving grace from You. So let me walk
Not in the pagan way, nor let me balk
At following, Beloved, Your chosen will.
I drink the running waters from Your still
To find no clouding wine, but clearing draught
Of law that teaches my steps divine craft
Unknown to Egypt's mullahs and the seat
Where popes and gurus hand out trick or treat.
Beloved, I lay hold of Your law's demand
And pray that I may live here in Your land.

6 'None of you shall approach to one
Who is near of kin to him, run
To uncover his nakedness:
I'm YHWH. 7 'Your father's nakedness
Or nakedness of mother you
Shall not uncover, what you do,
She is your mother, you shall not
Uncover her nakedness aught.
8 'Nakedness of your father's wife
You shall not uncover for life,
It is your father's nakedness.
9 'Your sister's nakedness undress,
The daughter of your father, or
The daughter of your mother's store,
Whether born at home or elsewhere,
Their nakedness you shall beware.
10 'The nakedness of your son's daughter
Or your daughter's daughter you've sought her,
Their nakedness you'll not reveal,
For theirs is your own nakedness.
11 'Your father's wife's daughter's undress,
Begotten by your father, she
Is your sister, you shall not be
One to reveal her nakedness.
12 'You shall not uncover the feel
Of your father's sister, she's near
Of kin to your father and dear.
13 'You shall not uncover the sweat
Of your mother's sister and pet,
For she's your mother's near of kin.
14 'You shall not uncover for sin
Your father's brother's naked shin.
You shall not approach to his wife,
She is your aunt, for peace or strife.
15 'You shall not uncover the skin
Of your daughter-in-law, she's in
Marriage to your son, so you'll not
Uncover her bare garden plot.
16 'You shall not uncover the bare
Of your own brother's wife to share,
It is your brother's nakedness.
17 'You shall not uncover the dress
Of a woman and her daughter,
Nor shall you take her son's daughter
Or her daughter's daughter to wife,
To uncover her naked rife.
They are the near of kin to her.
It's wickedness so to incur.
18 'Nor shall you take a woman as
A rival as her sister has,
To uncover her nakedness
While other is alive to bless.

Beloved, incest You have condemned aloud
And spoken clearly to the lusty crowd.
The limitations that You hereby state
Give ample room for gusty marriage fate.
Few there be that may not be undressed for
The hopes behind the sweetened bedroom door.
Polygamy itself is limited
Only by having sisters on the grid.
I wonder that any should seal their grate
By wishing Your law did not aggravate.
By giving freedom to rise, slay and eat.
You give men rope to hang and cook their meat.
Let me, Beloved, as I traverse Your load,
Walk faster and straighter than pressing goad.

19 'Also you shall not approach to
A woman to reveal her due
When she's in her impurity.
20 'And you shall not lie carnally
With your neighbour's wife, to defile
Yourself with her in pleasure vile.
21 'And you shall not let any of
Your descendants pass through for love
The fire to Molech, nor shall you
Profane the name of God: I'm YHWH.
22 'You shall not lie with any male
As with a woman, it's not hale.
23 'Nor shall you mate with any beast,
To defile yourself with at least.
Nor shall a woman stand before
A beast to mate with it, a whore.
24 'Do not defile yourselves with any
Of these things, for by all these many
Nations are defiled, which I am casting
Out before you and so lambasting.
25 'For the land is defiled, therefore
I visit their sins and outpour
Punishment upon it, the land
Vomits its dwellers out of hand.
26 'You shall therefore keep My statutes
And My judgements, and in disputes
Not commit these abominations,
Either any of your own nation's
Or any stranger in your stations.
27 'For all of these abominations
The people of the land have done,
Who were before you in the sun,
And thus the land's defiled, undone,
28 'Lest the land vomit you too when
You also defile it, as then
It vomited out the nations
That were before you under suns.
29 'For whoever commits any
Of these abominations free,
The persons who commit them shall
Be cut off from their folk and sal.
30 'Therefore you shall keep My statute,
So that you don't commit like brute
Any of these vile customs that
Were committed before you sat,
That you do not defile yourselves
By them: I'm YHWH your God who delves.'"

A naughty lot we are upon the sand
Of this unlucky star and world and land,
Who find our lusts require a violence
That goes beyond both charisma and sense.
So many holy songs and ways entice
The soul with practices of sacrifice
To evils that I flee to You alone
To find my solace in Your songs of stone.
The land indeed still spews forth defilement
And leaps to greet the cleansing sun that sent
Its rays to burn the lust from ground and tree.
A naughty lot we are when we're set free.
Beloved, I look for Your nobility
Upon a street accursed with excrement.

WEEK 30 LEVITICUS 19

1 And YHWH spoke to Moses, and said
2 "Speak to all Israel's folk well-bred,
And say to them 'You shall be holy,
For I YHWH your God too am holy.
3 'Every one of you shall revere
His mother and his father dear,
And keep My Sabbaths: I am YHWH
Your Ælohim and I am true.

In one breath You, Beloved, command the two
Things positive in Decalogue to do:
Honour to mom and dad and minding of
The Sabbath in Your honour and Your love.
You do not say how best to honour those
Who were the implements by whom You chose
To bring me in the world. You do not state
What work I ought to put off from the slate
On Sabbath day. Perhaps the task released
Is what might find the honour had decreased
To parents. On the other hand it may
Be the best honour of the week astray
That I can give my parents is the way
I mind to keep holy the seventh day.

4 'Do not turn to idols, nor make
For yourselves moulded gods at stake:
For I am YHWH your Ælohim.
5 'And if you offer as in dream
A sacrifice of peace offering
To YHWH, you shall your offering bring
Of your own free will. 6 'It shall be
Eaten the same day you bring it,
And on the next day, what is fit
To remain until the third day,
It shall be burned in fire away.
7 'And if it is eaten at all
On the third day, beyond recall
It is an abomination,
And to be accepted by none.
8 'Therefore everyone who eats it
Shall bear his wickedness as fit,
Because he has profaned the holy
Of YHWH, and that person shall wholly
Be cut off from his people then.
9 'When you reap harvest of your land,
You shall not wholly reap again
The corners of your field in hand,
Nor shall you gather of your spoil
The gleanings. 10 'And you shall not toil
To glean your vineyard, nor shall you
Gather each grape of vineyard due,
You shall leave them for the poor and
Stranger and outcast in the land:
I am YHWH your Ælohim YHWH.

You take three things away from mouth of those
Who have the wealth to slaughter food and clothes.
Two days alone the fresh meat may be taken
As food and then the rest of it's forsaken.
The corners of the field and all the small
Clusters of grapes are given out to all
Who have nor flocks nor fields nor vineyard there
But are reliant on Your direct care.
Ha! Direct care there's not, it seems to me:
Some go directly to the land for scree,
And other's to the mercy of the lord.
Instead of with fruit, poor are met with sword
As like as not. Beloved, I come to You
Expecting nothing but the word and cue.

11 'You shall not steal, nor deal falsely,
Nor lie to one another, see.
12 'And you shall not swear by My name
Falsely, nor shall you profane name
Of your Ælohim: I am YHWH.
13 'You shall not cheat your neighbour's due,
Nor rob him. The wages of him
Who is hired shall not remain dim
With you all night until morning.
14 'You shall not curse the deaf, nor string
A stumbling block before the blind,
But fear your God: I'm YHWH and kind.
15 'You shall do no injustice in
Judgement, to make the poor to win
Through partiality, nor yet
Honour the mighty man well set.
In righteousness you'll judge your neighbour.
16 'You shall not go about to labour
As a talebearer to your folk,
Nor shall you take a stand for broke
Against the life of your neighbour:
I am YHWH. 17 'You shall not hate your
Brother in your heart. You'll rebuke
Your neighbour, and not bear the fluke
Of sin because of him. 18 'You'll not
Take vengeance, nor bear any plot
Of grudge against the children of
Your people, but you'll surely love
Your neighbour as yourself: I'm YHWH,
And so I tell you what to do.

You it was who first said, Beloved, the true
Saying to love the neighbour as the self.
They lie who say Jesus invented that,
And also lie who say that he has sat
On earth as God Almighty in Your seat.
Here's proof the traitors are the ones who cheat.
There is no sovereign God at all but You,
While men worship men, stone, and sun and elf.
None can love other as the self but he
Who sees not in the other two or three
But only one Self who's reflected in
The many selves You've mirrored without sin.
Beloved, may I see every self alone
As Self that's one and sitting on Your throne.

19 'You shall keep My statutes. You'll not
Let your livestock breed in the lot
With other kinds. You shall not sow
Your field with mixed seed and to grow.
Nor shall a garment of mixed wool
And linen come upon you full.
20 'Who lies carnally with a lady
Who is betrothed to a man shady
To be a concubine, and who
Has not at all been redeemed true
Nor given her freedom, for this
There shall be scourging, but amiss
They'll not be put to death, because
She was not free from human claws.
21 'And he'll bring his trespass offering
To YHWH, to tent door of meeting,
A ram as a trespass offering.
22 'The priest shall make atonement for
Him with the ram he's brought in store
For trespass offering before YHWH
For his sin which thing he would do,
And the sin which he has committed
Shall be forgiven him, remitted.

Three things You give, Beloved, to be a sign
That no man has the right to wine and dine
And then sleep with the wives of other men:
These three are mixing of livestock again
Of two kinds into one, of sowing seed
Of diverse kinds in one field out of greed,
And making warp and woof of different thread,
Of linen and the wool of fine sheep bred.
Who keep to these three signs are reminded
To stay out of the neighbour's plot and bed.
For fornication scourging is the rate,
But for the other three, crimes that are great,
You only give a warning and no lash.
Their fate's a thunderclap and lightning flash.

23 'And when you come into the land,
And have planted on every hand
All kinds of trees for food, then you
Shall count their fruit in revenue
As the uncircumcised. Three years
It shall be as uncircumcised
To you, not eaten joy or tears.
24 'But in the fourth year all comprised
Of its fruit shall be holy, and
A praise to YHWH on every hand.
25 'And in the fifth year you may eat
Its fruit, that it may yield in meat
To you increased: I'm YHWH your God.
26 'You shall not eat upon the sod
Food with the blood, nor shall you make
Divining or soothsayer's sake.
27 'You shall not shave around the sides
Of your head, nor shall you for guides
Disfigure edges of your beard.
28 'You shall not make any things sheared,
Cuttings in your flesh for the dead,
Nor tattoo any marks of dread
On you: I'm YHWH, as I have said.
29 'Don't prostitute your daughter, to
Cause her to be a harlot's crew,
Lest the land fall in harlotry,
The land full of iniquity.

Five signs there be that warn against the slaughter
And sin of prostituting one's own daughter.
These are to eat the fruit uncircumcised
And blood, to seek the counsel unrevised
Of diviner and soothsayer, and then
To cut the hair and beard in patterned wen
In honour of the sun-god and the moon,
To tattoo to their honour on the skin,
And cut away the flesh, which is a sin,
In mourning for the dead. All these are done
With no more punishment beneath the sun
Than that the land by them is once more filled
With wickedness beneath the tinsel gild.
Beloved, keep me from shaving and right soon.

30 'You'll keep My Sabbaths and reverence
My sanctuary: I'm YHWH hence.

The holy place that You have chosen now
Upon which to place Your name anyhow
Is the house built in Bacca's far-off vale.
I cannot find its shadow in the pale
Of every weekly Sabbath that You give.
I only turn toward its lines to live,
And bow upon the earth in sacred joy
To find one God gives one place to employ
As sign that You are one for all the earth
And every son and angel that is worth
The breath to breathe Your holy name in prayer.
And so I spent my Sabbaths, though not there,
In reverence for the holy Kaaba and
The holy One who walks upon its sand.

31 'Give no regard to mediums'
Familiar spirits and their bums,
Do not seek after them, to be
Defiled by them: I'm YHWH, you see,
Your Ælohim above decree.

Some blow on knots and others seek the blood
Of entrails and their patterns in the flood,
The falling of the tesbih and the point
Of birds in flocks and branches out of joint.
Some follow the stock market and the news
To see what shall come in the world of views.
I turn to You, Beloved, from time and place,
And know there is no future for the race,
No past of sin and degradation here,
But only Your face and its love and fear.
Let me not be defiled by hope of gain
Or by the politics of sun and rain,
But let me trust my doing and my thoughts
To You alone by foreign garden plots.

32 'You shall rise before the grey head
And honour the old man abed,
And fear your elder judge: I'm YHWH.
33 'And if a stranger dwells with you
In your land, you'll not mistreat him.
34 'The stranger who dwells on your rim
Shall be to you as one born there
Among you, and you'll love him fair
As yourself, for you were stranger
In Egypt's land, and foreigner:
For I am YHWH your Ælohim.
35 'You shall do no injustice, scheme
In judgement, in measuring length,
Or weight, or volume in its strength.
36 'You shall have honest scales and weights,
An honest ephah, hin that rates:
For I am YHWH your Ælohim,
Who brought you out of the regime
Of Egypt. 37 'Therefore you'll observe
All My statutes and you shall serve
All My judgements, and you shall do
Them faithfully, for I am YHWH.'"

Justice is for the weak and old and for
The stranger as well as the rich at door.
Who loves the other as his own dear soul
Can see no ways distinguishing the goal
By wealth or race or any other measure
That some may hold to be a hidden treasure.
My hidden treasure is in You alone
Who are not made of any flesh or bone,
And so reside within the humble heart
Of poor as well as wealthy in their part.
Let me refrain from ancient Egypt's way
Of measuring the greed and empty tray,
But lay hold on what's under Egypt's sun
Today in loving ways that things are done.

LEVITICUS 20

1 Then YHWH spoke to Moses, and said
2 "Again, you'll say to the well-bred
Of Israel, 'Who of Israel's folk,
Or of the strangers who convoke
In Israel, who gives any of
His descendants to Molech's love,
He shall surely be put to death.
The land's people and with one breath
Shall stone him with stones. 3 'I will set
My face against that man, and yet
Will cut him off from his folk, for
He's given to Molech the whore
His sons, to defile My holy
And profane My good name, you see.
4 'And if the people of the land
Should turn a blind eye or a hand
From the man, when he gives his sons
To Molech, not to kill such ones,
5 'Then I will set My face hard on
That man, also against his spawn,
And I'll cut him off from his folk,
And all who prostitute themselves
With him to commit whoredom's yoke
In Molech's sacrifice to elves.
6 'And the one who turns to the spell
Of medium and familiar tell,
To prostitute himself with them,
I will set My face against them
And cut him off from his folk too.
7 'Consecrate yourselves therefore, do,
And be holy, for I am YHWH
Your Ælohim. 8 'And you shall keep
My statutes, and perform the heap:
I am YHWH who sanctifies you.
9 'For everyone who curses his
Father or mother surely is
To be put to death, he has cursed
His father or his mother worst,
His blood shall be upon him versed.

Your comment on the law to honour dad
And mom is that such parents should be bad
Who sacrifice their children for their sins.
The father who does such things never wins.
I see it is a curse to say of You
That You gave Your son as sacrifice due,
As well as dastardly a lie to boss
To say Your son died on a seemly cross.
The fact is You accept no sacrifice
Of human blood on altar nor with spice.
The sacrifice You wish is living and
With broken heart to observe Your command.
Who curse You with that word will come to die
For their iniquity and for their lie.

10 'One who commits adultery
With another man's wife, then he
Who commits adultery with
His neighbour's wife, both kin and kith,
Adulterer and adulteress,
Shall surely be put to death's press.
11 'The man who lies with father's wife
Has laid bare his own father's life,
Both of them shall be put to death.
Their blood shall be on their own breath.
12 'If a man and daughter-in-law
Lie carnally with claw and paw,
Both of them shall be put to death.
They've done perversion like MacBeth.
Their blood shall be upon them too.
13 'If a man lies with male as he
Lies with a woman all to see,
Both of them have done a vile thing,
They shall surely be slain by sling.
Their blood shall be upon them too.
14 'If a man marries a woman
And her mother, it's wicked done.
They shall be burned with fire, both he
And they, that there may be no free
Wickedness among you. 15 'If one
Mates with a beast, for what he's done,
He shall surely be put to death,
And you'll kill the beast Ashtoreth.
16 'If a woman comes to a beast
To mate with it, you'll kill at least
The woman and the beast, they'll be
Surely put to death for their spree.
Their blood shall be upon them too.
17 'If a man takes his sister true,
His father's daughter or as well
His mother's daughter, clientele
To see her nakedness and she
Enjoys his naked body free,
It is a wicked thing, and they
Shall be cut off in sight that day
From their people, he has laid bare
His sister's nakedness, he'll bear
His guilt. 18 'If a man lies with some
Woman during her monthly rum
And uncovers her nakedness,
He has exposed her flow's address,
And she's laid bare her blood's flow too,
Both of them shall be cut off due
From their folk. 19 'You shall not lay bare
Your mother's sister's naked share,
Father's sister, they're near of kin,
Therefore they shall bear guilt and sin.
20 'If a man lies with uncle's wife,
He has laid bare his uncle's life.
They shall bear their sin, they shall die
Childless and never wonder why.
21 'If a man takes his brother's wife,
It is an unclean thing, for he
Has laid bare his brother's debris.
They shall be childless for their fee.

Participating in the sacrifice
Is the equivalent of every vice
Of incest, Ashtoreth and Moloch's price
Is lying in the groves and under tree
To spend one's seed in heathen harlotry.
The seed unborn is given to sacred rite
Of lust in temple or out in plain sight.
The born seed's placed upon the glowing arms
Of heathen idol heated to alarms,
Where in its agony the child is lost.
The agonies of children's sacrifice
Are replayed in the horrors and the vice
Of faith and the establishment of church.
If that's faith, Beloved, leave me in the lurch.

22 'You shall therefore keep all of My
Statutes and all My judgements, try
And perform them, that the land where
I'm bringing you to live in there
May not vomit you out and spare.
23 'And you shall not walk in statutes
Of the nation which I'm for brutes
Casting out before you, for they
Commit all these things every day,
And therefore I abhor their sway.
24 'But I have said to you, "You shall
Inherit their land capital,
And I'll give it to you to hold,
Land flowing milk and honey's gold."
I am YHWH your God, who has made
Difference between you and their trade.
25 'You shall therefore distinguish twixt
Clean animals and unclean mixed,
Between unclean birds and the clean,
And you shall not make yourselves mean,
Abominable by beast or bird,
Or any kind of living turd
That creeps on the ground, which I've stirred
Distinct from you as the unclean.
26 'And you shall be holy to Me,
For I am YHWH and am holy,
And separated you from folk
That you should be Mine to convoke.
27 'A man or a woman who is
A medium, or who has his
Familiar spirits, shall surely
Be put to death, they'll stone them free
With stones, their blood shall surely be
Upon themselves eternally.'"

Consorting with familiar spirits or
Consulting mediums opens the door
It seems to eating things a man should not.
The clean and the unclean are here well taught.
And eating the unclean leads to the crime
Of incest et alias in its time.
Preserve me from these three idolatries,
Beloved, and I shall turn from all of these
To find my nourishment in You alone,
My god in nothing made of flesh or stone,
My hope for future in the present good,
And all my love in Your words as I should.
Your breath creates the monolith of being
That disappears again before my seeing.

WEEK 31 LEVITICUS 21

1 And YHWH said to Moses, "Speak to
The priests, the sons of Aaron , do
And say to them, 'None shall defile
Himself for the dead rank and file,
2 'Except for his relatives who
Are nearest to him: mother true,
Father, son, his daughter, and brother,
3 'His virgin sister is another
Who's near to him, who has had no
Husband, for her he too may go
To defile himself. 4 'But he shall
Not defile himself, principal
Among his people, to profane
Himself. 5 'They shall also refrain
From making any bald place on
Their heads, nor shall lift razor on
The edges of their beards nor make
Any cuttings in their flesh. 6 'They
Shall be holy in their God's way
And not profane for God's name's sake,
For they offer the offerings of
YHWH made by fire and in His love,
And the bread of their God, therefore
They shall be holy evermore.
7 'They shall not take for wife a whore
Or any woman defiled, nor
Shall they take a woman divorced
From her husband, for he's perforced
Holy to his God. 8 'So therefore
You shall consecrate him, for he
Offers the bread of your God, he
Shall be holy to you, for I
YHWH, who sanctify you hereby
Am holy. 9 'The daughter of priest,
If she profanes herself decreased
By playing the whore, she profanes
Her father, let her feel the pains
To be burned with fire for her gains.

The priests are not allowed to wash the dead.
My grandmother was one of those who fed
Herself by washing bodies for the free
And in their time more fine and finicky.
She said she did not mind. She read the Book
So much she must have known such washing shook
One's purity. Effect of poverty
No doubt suffices for a girl to take
A job that she can get, short of the make.
That old profession for the daughter of
Entails the worst of punishments above,
Burning to death. That has been saved of late
For only great protagonists of hate:
The heretic against the Church and State.

10 'He who is the high priest among
His brothers, on whose head was slung
Anointing oil, and who is set
Apart to wear the garments met,
Shall not uncover his head yet
Nor tear his clothes, 11 'nor shall he go
Near any dead body, nor slow
To defile himself for his father
Or his mother, 12 'nor shall he rather
Go out of the sanctuary,
Nor profane the sanctuary
Of his God, for the consecration
Of the anointing oil's elation
Of his Ælohim is on him:
I am YHWH. 13 'And he shall be prim
To take wife in virginity.
14 'A widow or a divorcée
Or a defiled woman or harlot,
These he shall not marry for scarlet,
But he shall take a virgin of
His own people as wife to love.
15 'He'll not profane posterity
Among his people, for I'm He
YHWH that truly makes him holy.'"

You want the high priest's wife to be in state
Of her virginity when she takes mate.
The usefulness of that appears too late,
Because she is not virgin wife so long
That it is worthy of the praiseful song.
Another crime, Beloved, You perpetrate
By not requiring that the priest himself
Is virgin and not satyr, or an elf.
It's interesting You make no rude distinction
Between the widow and divorced extinction,
And defiled and harlot, all four for You
Are all a part of one and equal crew.
In that, Beloved, You are a modern goat,
And have no Christian values down by rote.

16 And YHWH spoke to Moses, and said
17 "Speak to Aaron , saying 'No head
Of your descendants in the coming
Generations, who has a humming
Defect, may approach to offer
The bread of his Ælohim's spur.
18 'For any man who has defect
Shall not approach, a man abject
In blindness or lame, who has marred
Face or any limb too long scarred,
19 'A man who has a broken foot
Or broken hand, 20 'or one that's put
To be a hunchback or a dwarf,
Or one who has upon the wharf
A defect in his eye, or skin,
Or scab, or is a eunuch jinn.
21 'No man of the descendants of
Aaron the priest, who has above
Defect, shall come near to endue
The offerings made by fire to YHWH.
He has a defect, he'll not come
Near to offer the bread in sum
Of his God. 22 'He may eat the bread
Of his God, both the most holy
And the holy, 23 'only not he
Shall go near the veil or approach
The altar, because he has reproach
Of a defect, lest he profane
My sanctuaries with his stain,
For I YHWH sanctify the fane.'"
24 And Moses told it to Aaron
And his sons, and to everyone
Of Israel's folk from dame to son.

The failure to note degree of importance
Shows Christianity to lack in hortense.
Your oneness they shall disregard indeed,
And fail to keep the Sabbath in their creed,
And while they have no licence from Your chair
To have a priest at all, they do ring fair
To choose their priests without a broken hand,
And if a man, to have at his command
His reproductive tool provisioned fit,
Whole and uncircumcised in fact to wit.
Ah, mint and anise, mint and anise cure
No ills nor errors in the church, that's sure.
Beloved, to oppress the weak is their strength,
And that is something does not change at length.

LEVITICUS 22

1 Then YHWH spoke to Moses, saying
2 "Speak to Aaron and his sons' string,
That they must separate themselves
From the holy things on the shelves
Of the children of Israel,
That they do not profane as well
My holy name by what they brew
To consecrate to Me: I'm YHWH.
3 "Say to them, 'Whoever of you
And all your descendants and through
Your generations, who goes near
The holy things which the folk fear
Of Israel to offer to YHWH,
While he has uncleanness undue
Upon him, that person shall be
Cut off from My presence: I'm He,
YHWH. 4 'Whatever man of descendant
Of Aaron , who's leper dependant
Or has a discharge, shall not eat
The holy offerings for a treat
Until he's clean. Whoever touches
Anything made unclean by clutches
Of a corpse, or a man who's had
An emission of semen glad,
5 'Or whoever touches any
Creeping thing and by the which he
Would be made unclean, or any
Person by whom he would become
Unclean, whatever is the sum
Of his uncleanness, 6 'the person
Who has touched any such thing done
Shall be unclean until evening,
And shall not eat holy offering
Unless he wash body with water.
7 'And when the sun goes to its slaughter
He shall be clean, and afterward
He may eat the holy reward,
Because it is his food. 8 'What dies
Or is torn he'll not eat for flies,
To defile himself with it: I
Am YHWH. 9 'They shall therefore keep My
Ordinance, lest they sin and die
If they profane it: I YHWH am
The one who does sanctify them.

Semen, dead bodies, pus and creeping thing
Defile by touch, Beloved, unless a spring
Of water be found to wash in withal.
And yet with body clean, the soul hears call
To purify its ways before the sight
Of You who only know the wrong and right.
With hands unwashed and feet still stained with dirt
I look toward Your divine throne alert
And seek the purifying fire that burns
Away the dross from my soul's gulls and terns.
The tops are cured by sun and wind and rain,
While root remains in filth and common pain.
Yet still the rotten bed of pond appears
To feed the water lily's upward rears.

10 'No outsider shall eat the holy,
One who dwells with the priest, hired lowly
Servant, shall not eat holy things.
11 'But if the priest buys with gold rings
A person, he may eat, and one
Who is born in his house begun
May eat his food. 12 'If the priest's daughter
Is married to an outside wroughter,
She may not eat holy offerings.
13 'But if the priest's daughter's a widow
Or is divorced, and has no kiddo,
And has returned to father's house
As in her youth, then like a mouse
She may eat her father's food, but
No outsider shall take a cut.
14 'And if a man eats holy thing
Not on purpose, then he shall bring
Holy replacement to the priest,
And add one-fifth to it at least.
15 'They'll not profane holy offerings
Of which a man of Israel brings,
Which they offer to YHWH, 16 'or let
Them bear the guilt of trespass yet
When they eat their holy offerings,
For I YHWH sanctify their things.'”

Both widow and divorced daughter of priest
Am I, and childless in the way increased
Of virtue, with no offering of my own,
I come undone, Beloved, before Your throne.
I bear my guilt with stained and soiled dress
And lay my heart and soul at Your address.
Once more as in my childhood I can taste
The holy bread after my eating waste.
My breath is feeding on the holy thing,
There is no way to avoid golden ring,
And so I bring with each breath my intent
To give the one-fifth recompense for spent.
The only way to come out of my debt
Is to return to Your house and banquet.

17 And YHWH then spoke to Moses, saying
18 "Speak to Aaron and his sons praying,
And to all the children of Israel,
And tell them, 'Who of house of Israel,
Or of the foreigners in Israel,
Who offers sacrifice for any
Of his vows or for any penny
Of his freewill offerings, which they
Offer to YHWH burnt offering's way,
19 'You shall offer of your own free
Will a male no deformity
From the cattle, from the sheep, or
From the goats. 20 'Whatever in store
Has a defect, you shall not offer,
For it shall not be fit to proffer
On your behalf. 21 'And whoever
Offers a sacrifice to stir
A peace offering to YHWH, fulfilling
A vow, or an offering freewilling
From the cattle or from the sheep,
It must be perfect for to keep,
There shall be no defect in it.
22 'Those blind or broken, maimed unfit,
Or have ulcer on skin or scabs,
You shall not offer for YHWH's grabs,
Nor make an offering by fire of
Them on the altar for YHWH's love.
23 'Either a bull or lamb that has
Any limb too long or such as
Is too short you may offer as
A freewill offering, but for vow
It's not accepted anyhow.
24 'You shall not offer to YHWH what
Is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut,
Nor shall you make such in your land.
25 'Nor even from a stranger's hand
Shall you offer any of these
As the bread of your God to please,
Because their corruption's in them,
And defects are also in them.
They'll not be accepted for you.'"
26 And YHWH spoke to Moses what's true,
Saying 27 "When a bull or a sheep
Or a goat is born, it shall keep
Seven days with its mother, then
From the eighth day thereafter's when
It shall be accepted as offering
Made by a fire to YHWH for proffering.
28 "If it's a cow or ewe, do not
Kill both her and her young on spot
On the same day. 29 "And when you offer
A sacrifice thanksgiving's proffer
To YHWH, offer it of your own
Free will. 30 "On the same day alone
It shall be eaten, you shall leave
None of it until morning cleave:
I am YHWH. 31 "Therefore you shall keep
My commandments, perform, not weep,
I am YHWH. 32 "You shall not profane
My holy name, but I'll retain
My hallowed state among the folk
Of Israel, I am YHWH who spoke
To sanctify you, 33 "who brought you
Out of the land of Egypt's rue,
To be your God: for I am YHWH."

A stranger and a foreigner I offer
My freewill offering of myself, a doffer.
Unfortunately gifts without defect
Are given from Your hand alone, reflect.
Command me not to give an offering pure
And undeformed, the human soul is sure
To sacrifice the perfect to the sweet,
And thus deform the curving horn and bleat.
But this I promise, as beneath the veils
I sit in bark unknowing where it sails,
That I shall keep each kid with mother till
The Sabbath has made rounds upon the hill.
It is Your Self that separates from mother
And tells the soul the lie it is another.



AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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