DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 31 ~ 34

DEUTERONOMY 31

1 Then Moses went and spoke these words
To all Israel, humans and birds.
2 And he said to them, "I am one
Hundred and twenty years when done
Today. I can no longer go
Out and come in. And also know
YHWH has said to me, 'You shall not
Cross over this Jordan you've sought.'
3 "YHWH your God Himself crosses over
Before you into fields of clover,
He will destroy these nations from
Before you in the land you come,
And you shall dispossess them too.
Joshua himself crosses new
Before you, just as YHWH has said.
4 "And YHWH will do to them instead
As He did to Sihon and Og,
The kings of the Amorites' bog
And their land, when He destroyed them.
5 "YHWH will give them over in hem
To you, that you may do to them
According to every command
Which I've commanded in your land.
6 "Be strong and of good courage, do
Not fear nor be afraid of them,
For YHWH your God, He is the One
Who goes with you. He'll not leave you
Nor forsake you when He is done."
7 Then Moses called Joshua and
Said to him in the sight of all
Israel, "Be strong and take in hand
Good courage, for you must recall
To go with this folk to the land
Which YHWH has sworn to give their fathers,
To inherit it without bothers.
8 "And YHWH, He is the one who goes
Before you. He will watch your toes,
He will not leave you nor forsake,
Don't fear nor be dismayed at stake."

I shall be strong and take good courage too,
Beloved, as I seek to worship just You,
And leave aside the ungodly god crew.
Idolatry entices every day
To see the many and so turn away
From knowing that behind the many veils
Of personalities with flying sails,
There is just one and that One is divine,
You are the only I in human shrine,
The stony chambered heart of flesh and wine.
Though I meet many rogues and many saints,
They both express the veils and the complaints
Of living in illusion. Only You
Even in shadow lands arise to do.

9 So Moses wrote this law and gave
It to the priests, the sons, not slave,
Of Levi, who carried the ark
Of covenant of YHWH to park,
To all the elders of Israel.
10 And Moses commanded them well,
Saying "At end of seven years,
At the appointed time appears
In the year of release, at feast
Of tabernacles, 11 "when the least
And great and all Israel comes to
Appear before your God and YHWH
In the place which He chooses, you
Shall read this law before the ears
Of all Israel's folk, each that hears.
12 "Gather the folk together, men
And women and little ones then,
And the stranger who's in your gates,
That they may hear and learn the rates
To fear YHWH your God and observe
All the words of this law with verve,
13 "And that their children, who have not
Known it, may hear and learn what's taught
To fear YHWH and your Ælohim
As long as you live in the dream
Land which you cross Jordan to cream."

With eager trembling I take down the book
And open it again to have a look,
And chant again the liquid words and hear
Your voice awaken once more at my ear.
Beloved, Your law is sweet, entire and sweet,
And I bow at its sighing to Your feet,
And set my soul in ecstasy to climb
The stairs toward Your throne in ring and rhyme.
I hear and I become a child again
At age when the majority of men
Build towers and fortunes for their pride and use.
I only build a melody's excuse
And rush to You for art and for my pay
To join with You as on my first birthday.

14 Then YHWH said to Moses, "Indeed,
The days approach when you decreed
Must die. Call Joshua, present
Yourselves before the meeting tent,
That I may ordain him as sent."
So Moses and Joshua went
And presented themselves in tent
Of meeting. 15 Now YHWH appeared at
The tabernacle where He sat
In a pillar of cloud, which stood
Above the tent door where He would.
16 And YHWH said to Moses, "Indeed,
You'll rest with your fathers in weed,
And this people will rise and play
The harlot with the gods that sway
The strangers of the land, where they
Go to be among them, and they
Will forsake Me and break My pact
Which I have made with them in fact.
17 "Then My anger shall be aroused
Against them in that day bebrowsed,
And I'll forsake them, and I'll hide
My face from them, where they abide
They'll be consumed. And many plagues
And troubles shall befall their dregs,
So that they will say in that day,
'Have not these evils come this way
Upon us because our God's not
Among us here and where we sought?'
18 "And I will surely hide My face
In that day because of the race
Of evil which they've done, in that
They've turned to where other gods sat.
19 "Now therefore, write you down this song,
And teach it to the children long
In Israel, put it on their tongue,
That this song may be witness sung
For Me against Israel's folk strung.
20 "When I have brought them to the land
With milk and honey on the sand
Flowing, of which I swore their fathers,
And they have eaten without bothers,
And filled themselves and have grown fat,
Then they'll turn where other gods sat
And serve them, and they will provoke
Me and break My pact at a stroke.
21 "Then it shall be, when many plagues
And troubles have come on their legs,
That this song will testify true
Against them as a witness new,
For it will not be forgot in
The mouths that their descendants win,
For I know how their conversation
Is like to turn this day and ration,
Even before I've brought them to
The land I swore to give them due."

At morning and at dawn I sit before
The narrow opening of my tent door
And wait the coming of the rosy cloud
From which I hear or almost hear aloud
Your voice in silence spring like long ago
You spoke to Moses there above the glow
Of fire by night and cloud by day for show.
At evening and at night I sit upon
The same carpet I used to find the dawn,
And there I sire in soul to meet Your throne
Among the forties whirling there as shown
To every prophet and divine guide driven
To know reality in what we live in.
And there I hear again Your voice alone.

22 Therefore Moses wrote out this song
The same day, and taught it along
To the children of Israel. 23 Then
He ordained Joshua of men
The son of Nun, and said "Be strong
And of good courage, for you'll bring
The children of Israel to sing
In the land of which I swore them,
And I will be with you and them."
24 So it was, when Moses had done
Writing the words of this law run
In a book, and when they had done,
25 That Moses commanded Levites,
Who carried in the people's sights
The ark of covenant of YHWH,
Saying 26 "Take this Book of the Law,
And put beside the ark in awe
Of covenant of YHWH your God,
That it may be there and to prod
You as a witness against you,
27 "For I know your rebellious crew
And your stiff neck in what you do.
If today, while I'm yet alive
With you, you've been rebellious hive
Against YHWH, then how much more still
After my death you will act ill?
28 "Gather me all the elders of
Your tribes, and your officers' glove,
That I may speak these words in hearing
Of them to call heaven and earth clearing
To witness against them. 29 "For fearing
I know that after my death you
Will be a wholly corrupt crew,
And turn aside from the way which
I have commanded you to stitch,
And evil will befall you in
The latter days, because your sin
Will rise up in the sight of YHWH,
Provoking Him to anger through
The work of your hands." 30 Moses spoke
In the hearing of every bloke
In Israel gathered every word
Of this song until they were stirred.

Despite the fact that You leave divine guide
To comfort the folk, teach and prod and chide,
They still will disobey and go aside.
What was true then is true also today.
Many claim to follow the twelver way,
And yet they follow the authorities
That set themselves by awful guarantees
In Moses' seat. I set aside the laws
That such imagine based on their own claws.
I hold to the divine command and wait
Upon the leading to Joshua's gate.
Let Sanhedrin and elders' counsel wait,
As well as every democratic state.
Joshua was not chosen by folk's paws.

WEEK 52 DEUTERONOMY 32

1 "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
And hear, O earth, my mouth's words meek.
2 Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distil as dew for gain,
As raindrops on the tender herb,
As showers on the grassy curb.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Ælohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.

I cry out Huu to end this proclamation.
Yes, just and right is Huu in every nation.
So my Beloved, You are both just and right,
A rock of refuge in the heathen's sight,
Truth is Your name and everything You do
Is justice, so I cry out once more Huu.
If I proclaim Your name as I recite
The Hebrew words wrote here in dark and light,
It is because the Prophet Moses cried
To end his sentence Huu and then he died.
The skies and earth lend ear to hear the sound,
The dew and tender rain fall to the ground
And make prostration on the slender grass.
I too bow down to You before I pass.

5 "They've corrupted themselves, they're not
His children, for their blemish spot:
A perverse, crooked generation.
6 Do you thus deal with YHWH, O nation
Foolish and unwise? Is He not
Your Father, He who also bought
You? Has He not made you and then
Established you like other men?

Beloved, You are four things to me by this
Chant in the Scriptures that I cannot miss.
You are my Father, though You do not bear
Children nor take a wife among the fair.
You are my Master, for You have bought me
And paid the price of purchase for my fee.
You are Creator of my life and all
I am and do, things both great and the small.
You are the One Establisher of my
Life day to day, although I wonder why
The this and that of things that I live by.
Father and Master, Creator and One
To establish my living till I've done,
Four in four gates until my race is won.

7 "Remember days of old, and think
Of many generations' brink.
Ask your father, and he will show
You, your elders, and they will know
To tell you: 8 When the Most High split
Inheritance to nations fit,
Dividing up the sons of Adam ,
He set bounds for the folk that had them
According to the number of
The children of God and His love.
9 For YHWH's portion will be His folk,
Jacob's the place of His own stroke.
10 "He found him in a desert land
And in the wasteland, howling sand,
Encircled him, instructed him,
He kept him as apple and hymn
Of His eye. 11 As an eagle stirs
Up its nest, hovers on and whirs
Over its young, spreads out its wings,
Taking them up upon its wings,
12 So YHWH alone led him, and there
Was no foreign god El to share.
13 "He made him ride in the earth's heights,
To eat the produce of his rights
Of the fields, He made him draw honey
From the rock, and oil without money
From the flinty rock, 14 Curds from cattle,
And milk of the flock without battle,
With fat of lambs, and rams of Bashan,
And goats, with the choicest wheat ration,
And you drank grape juice, and the blood
Of the grapes coming in a flood.

You are my portion and inheritance,
Beloved, the dergah where I sing and dance,
But marvellous beyond reality
Is that for Your portion You've taken me.
Beloved, see what my wealth is on the block,
While You are drawn in poverty of stock.
For I have You for riches, wealth unbought,
While You have only me, a barren plot.
While I eat honey and drink for the dew
The blood of grapes, what is there left for You?
I cantillate You lovely names' recall
That speak in memory like granite wall,
While You for recitation give me breath
And keep in love my heart and soul from death.

15 "But Jeshurun grew fat to kick,
You grew fat, you also grew thick,
You are rotund! Then he forsook
Allah who had made him, and look
Askance at his salvation's Rock.
16 They provoked Him to jealous shock
With foreign gods, with things atrocious
Provoked His wrath to be ferocious.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not
To Allah, to gods they did not
Know, to new gods, new that your fathers
Did not fear. 18 But of the Rock's bothers
Who brought you forth, you are unmindful,
And have forgotten the God blindful,
El who fathered you on the spot.

Political correctness does not mark,
Beloved, Your speech not spoken in the dark.
Obesity is holy in this day,
And You should know in everything You say
Not to offend the fat by word or deed.
You've fallen on Your face, Beloved, take heed.
Unless You address people with the stock
Of right words at the right time of the clock,
You'll find they choose a kinder kind of god
Who does not berate heads with speckled rod.
Apologize right now to Jeshurun,
And the elite will raise You to the moon,
Or keep Your silence and stand fare to lose
Respect from every crowd out there to bruise.

19 "And when YHWH saw it, He spurned them,
Because of provocation's stem
Of His sons and His daughters too.
20 And He said 'I will hide My true
Face from them, I will see their end,
For they're a perverse generation,
Children in whom is no faith bend.
21 They have provoked Me in My station
To jealousy by what is not
El, they have moved Me to a spot
Of anger by their foolish idols.
But I'll provoke them in their bridles
To jealousy by those who're not
A nation, I'll move them to wrath
By a foolish nation in path.
22 For a fire's kindled by my wrath,
And shall burn to the lowest hell,
It shall consume the earth as well
With her increase, and set on fire
The mountains' foundations in pyre.

Beloved, I am no nation here alone
Reciting Your sweet names within the stone
Chamber of my heart where I find Your face.
Make jealous every one of sacred race
By Your elopement to my trysting place
To dine with me on grapes and nuts and plums
While others are proud to be erring bums.
No error is there for the one who waits
Upon Your Decalogue and at the gates
Finds to obey Your law is grace enough,
And in Your law the gate of love as rough
Opens the door to awareness that You
Are One the only God, the One and true.
Beloved, cause jealousy to topple states.

23 'I'll heap disasters on them, I
Will spend My arrows till they die.
24 They'll be wasted with hunger, and
Devoured by pestilence at hand
And bitter destruction, I'll send
Against them the beasts' teeth to rend,
With poison of snakes in the dust.
25 The sword shall destroy without rust,
There'll be terror within the trust
Of the young man and virgin, and
The nursing child with the man's hand
Who has grey hairs and cannot stand.

I have grey hair. That puts me in the class
That finds terrors a-lurking in the grass.
I have no hunger unless I make fast,
I meet no poison of the serpents cast,
Although there's poison in the bread I eat
If I buy it at supermarket treat,
Where additives, preservatives are meet
To make it palatable for a week.
But if I am humble enough to seek
The lowly crust, no poison threatens me.
I only have my grey hair for my fear
And even that is thinning by the year.
Beloved, in all my drawn simplicity,
I take hold of Your law and become free.

26 I would have said "I'll dash in pieces
Until the memory of them ceases
From among men," 27 Had I not feared
The wrath when enemy appeared,
Unless their adversaries be
Misunderstanding, lest declare
"Our hand is high, we cannot see
That it's YHWH that's made all this bare."'
28 "For they're a nation void of sense,
In understanding they are dense.
29 Oh, that they were wise, and that they
Understood this, that they'd relay
Their latter end! 30 How could one chase
A thousand, and two put to race
Ten thousand in flight, but their Rock
Had sold them, barrel, stock and lock,
And YHWH'd surrendered them in block?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock,
Even as judge our enemies.
32 For their vine's of the vine and trees
Of Sodom and fields of Gomorrah,
Their grapes are grapes of gall and sorrow,
Their clusters bitter. 33 Their grape juice
Is serpents' poison for the use
Of cobras' cruel venom's abuse.
34 'Is this not laid Me up in store,
Sealed up among My treasures' floor?
35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense,
Their foot shall slip in due time hence,
For the day of calamity
Is at hand, and things hastily
Come on them.' 36 "For YHWH will be judge
Of His people and He will budge
In compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their power's hence,
And there's no one remaining, bond
Or free. 37 He'll say 'Where is the wand
Of their gods, the rock in which they
Sought refuge? 38 Who ate fat and whey
Of their sacrifices, and drank
The wine of their drink offering rank?
Let them arise up now and help,
And be a refuge to your whelp.
39 'Now see that I, even I, am He,
And there is no God beside Me,
I kill, I make alive, set free,
I wound and heal, and there is none
To deliver from My hand won.

Beloved, do You mean You are God alone?
I know You reject images of stone,
But do You also cast aside the Three
That make up one god in a Trinity?
Ah, many are the creeds that say You're wrong,
Beloved, God of the Scriptures, and the strong
And mighty El Shaddai of Abraham!
You spoke to Moses as the great I AM,
To David as the one from Your own heart.
All other gods are ones contrived by art
And art's philosophies. That stubborn Me
You choose to call Yourself lets none go free.
So bind my heart and soul to only One,
And let's have trinities and idols done.

40 I raise My hand to heaven, and say
"I live forever, 41 If I weigh
And whet My glittering sword, and My
Hand takes hold on judgement, then I
Will render vengeance to My foes,
And repay those who hate My nose.
42 I'll make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword shall devour the flood
Of flesh, with the blood of the slain
And the captives, heads of the main
Leaders of the enemy vain."'
43 "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His folk,
For He'll avenge the blood He spoke
Of His servants, and vengeance make
On His enemies, He'll provide
Atonement for His land and wide
Atonement on His people's side."

Are You, Beloved, a God of mercy and
A God of justice? Let me understand.
This world is full of universal love
Expressed in song and dance and millions of
Land mines in loving silence waiting where
The soft caress of some child's hand in air
Will set off universal love again.
Why do I always meet such love in pain?
Instead of universal love I wait
For mercy in Your coming judgement's gate.
The three great heresies join to agree
That You must come to judge and that quickly.
Come end this universal love with fire
Is Dervish Ali Haydar's firm desire.

44 So Moses came with Joshua
The son of Nun and spoke in awe
All the words of this song in hearing
Of the people trembling and fearing.
45 Moses ended all these words' speech
To all Israel, 46 and said to each,
"Set your hearts on all the words which
I witness among you for switch
Today, which you shall command your
Children to be careful in chore
To observe, all words of this law.
47 "For it's not futile, but for awe
To you, since it is your own life,
And by this word and without strife
You'll prolong your days in the land
Which you cross over Jordan's sand
To have and hold. 48 And then YHWH spoke
To Moses that same day a stroke,
Saying 49 "Go up into this mount
Of the Abarim, to the fount
Of Mount Nebo, that's in the land
Of Moab, across from the hand
Of Jericho, and view the land
Of Canaan, which I give the band
Of Israel as a living space,
50 "And die on that mountain and place
Which you ascend, and be gathered
To your people, who shall be stirred,
Just as Aaron your brother died
On Mount Hor and gathered beside
His people, 51 "because you trespassed
Against Me among Israel's cast
At the waters of Meribah
In Kadesh, in the desert awe
Of Zin, because you did not keep
Me holy among Israel's heap.
52 "Yet you shall see the land before
You, though you shall not enter store,
Or go into the land I'm giving
To Israel's folk for board and living."

Like Moses I prolong my life in You
By taking hold of Your law that is true,
The Decalogue once spoken on Sinai
And carried in both ark and heart and sigh.
The song that Moses taught the people there
Arose in cadences upon the air
To remind them again, again declare
The ten commandments still are right and good
To tell the soul to speak and act as should.
Beloved, I prolong my life in that word
And song that long ago the people stirred,
And sing again the Hebrew melodies
Until the tides run out upon the leas.
Though landless I am blessed with corn and trees.

DEUTERONOMY 33

1 Now this is the blessing which Moses
The man of Ælohim that chose us
Blessed Israel's folk before his death.
2 And he said "YHWH from Sinai's breath
Came and dawned on them from Seir, He
Shone forth from Mount Paran, and He
Came with ten thousands of His saints,
From His right hand came without taints
A fiery law for them. 3 Yes, He
Loves the people, and all His saints
Are in Your hand, they sit down at
Your feet, everyone receives that
Of Your words. 4 Moses commanded
A law for us, heritage hid
For Jacob's congregation. 5 He
Was King in Jeshurun, and when
The leaders of the folk and men
Were gathered, all the tribes together,
Of Israel to find out whether:

A fiery law indeed, Beloved, let me
Burn in the sweet fire of eternity
That kindles from Your law and to the gate
Of Truth extends unbowed, commensurate.
The saints of forties all bound in Your hand
Whirl and rewhirl and never come to stand,
But like the stars obedient in the sky
Cast up their burning eyes and hands to fly.
Cast me up burning too among the throng
Of those who hear the chirping of the song
Of Your law burning, burning with desire.
I rush like winged and bright moth to that fire,
Extinguish phantom will in You alone
And touch again my soul with flesh and bone.

6 "Let Reuben live, let him not die,
Nor let his men be few nor cry."
7 And this he said of Judah, "Hear,
YHWH, the voice of Judah, lend ear,
And bring him to his people, let
His hands be sufficient to get
For him, and may you be an aid
Against his enemies once swayed."

The pinnacle of Torah here is found,
The blessing on the twelve and all around.
The blessèd names, the names of holy few
Sparkle upon the sward like morning dew,
Like jewels cut with rare skill and with taste
Upon a night sky starred and unerased.
The voice of Judah, hand of Reuben sought,
They lend an arm to Your law where it's taught,
And take a streaming banner from the fire
To lighten up the world for an umpire.
The twelve come here as they did from Ishmael
And sound again in the sons of Israel,
To come in judges, prophets, kings and last
In the divine guides sent and unsurpassed.

8 And of Levi he said "Let your
Thummim and your Urim be store
With your holy one, whom you tested
At Massah, and of whom you bested
At the waters of Meribah,
9 Who says of his father to caw
And his mother, 'I've not seen them',
Nor did acknowledge brothers' gem,
Or know his own children, for they
Have observed Your word in the way
And kept Your covenant. 10 They'll teach
Jacob Your judgements, and they'll preach
To Israel Your law. They'll put
Incense before You and your foot,
And a whole burnt sacrifice on
Your altar. 11 Now then, bless his lawn
And substance, YHWH, accept the work
Of his hands, strike the loins and dirk
Of those who rise against him, and
Of those who hate him in the land,
That they rise not again to stand."

The Thummin and Urim by which the crew
Of Levi used to answer questions true
Are now reputed lost, what shall we do?
Two sapphire jewels still remain upon
The breast of every priest and king at dawn,
The tables of the law, criterion
Established by Qur'an and set to light
The way to Paradise, the way by sight.
I need no faith nor document writ fair
From history's long corridors to share,
But ask the flashing stones for guidance to
The right way in the things that I should do.
Beloved, I praise Your name, Your law, Your grace,
And live by sight, not faith, before Your face.

12 Of Benjamin he said "Beloved
Of YHWH shall live by Him engloved,
Who shelters him all the day long,
And he shall live and with a song
Between His shoulders." 13 And he said
Of Joseph "Blessed of YHWH's his land,
With precious things of heaven planned,
With dew, and the deep lying there,
14 With the sun's precious fruits and bare,
With the months' finest produce fair,
15 With the best things of ancient mounts,
With precious things in precious founts
Of everlasting hills and rills,
16 With costly things that the earth fills,
And favour of who lived in bush.
Let come on Joseph's head to push,
And on the crown of his head who
Was separate from his brothers' crew.'
17 His glory's like a firstborn bull,
And his horns like the horns that pull
The wild ox, together with them
He'll push the peoples to the hem
Of the earth, they are Ephraim,
Ten thousands, and they it would seem
The thousands of Manasseh's dream."

So little Benjamin takes the fourth place,
The slot of one before whose tragic face
The martyrs died at Kerbela, Ali
The Zeynul-'Abideen, who was set free
For having been delivered from the rage
By Your protection and a hermitage
Amid the battle and its woeful sounds.
I too have travelled long and made the rounds,
But never heard from hiding place the like
That he heard from the wicked tyrant's strike.
Benjamin, son of the right hand, well makes
The prophecy of Ali for the sakes
Of those to come, and those who stop to weep,
And those who know that praises don't come cheap.

18 Of Zebulon he said "Rejoice,
Zebulon, in your firstling choice
To go out, and Issachar in
Your tents and barns and stalls and bin!
19 They'll call the peoples to the mount
Where righteous sacrifices mount,
For they shall partake of the plenty
Of the seas and of treasures twenty
All hidden in the sand and fount."

While Issachar takes seventh place here, he
Becomes the harbinger eternally
Of hidden and outright among the free
And divine guides. The double reign restores
The treasures of the secret, heavenly doors,
And calls to feast of sacrifice upon
The mountains overlooking sea at dawn.
The tents are opened to the ripening wind
And all the grief's forgotten and who sinned.
The sands shine clear and coloured with the glow
Of love between the brothers who must go
And those who stay to guard the camps and flocks.
Beloved, I do not hold with those with locks,
But break into the treasury by force
And tear down all the veils of the divorce.

20 And of Gad he said "Blessed is he
Who enlarges Gad, he dwells free
As a lion, and tears the arm
And the crown of his head from harm.
21 He readied the first for himself,
Because that a lawgiver's shelf
Was reserved there. He came with heads
Of the people, applied the beds
Of justice of YHWH, and all his
Judgements with Israel as is."

Descended from the eighth holy imam
Was Hajji Bektash who desired no alm
But laid his shoulder to the lion's whelp
And gave a hand to every deer for help.
The law came clear and undeterred through him
When others bound to kings spoke low and dim,
And so Gad represents that fateful whim
That received of the promises and yet
Had to go empty from the stage and set.
Despite the heads of people fickle, bare,
The justice he applied on desert air
Remains the judgement to look to and fair.
Beloved, let Gad remain the founder of
The oracles of justice and of love.

22 And of Dan he said "Dan's a whelp
Of lion, he shall leap from help
Of Bashan." 23 And of Naphtali
He said "O Naphtali, well filled
With favour, and full of the spilled
Blessing of YHWH, possess the west
And south and live among the best."
24 And of Asher he said "Asher
Is most blessed of sons, let the fer
Be favoured by his brothers, and
Let him dip foot in oil at hand.
25 Your sandals shall be iron and bronze,
As your days, your strength for by-gones.

Asher is happiness, perhaps, but see
The sandals of the warrior and the free
Fit to his feet, see how he stands and goes
With banners and with chariots to his foes.
His brothers favour, yes, and bless his name
Who rises to the great task without shame.
Though days obscure the task with fading light
And Askeri like Asher's out of sight,
Still I remember to the end of life
The blessedness that Asher lends the strife,
And so strive on to find the secret one
Who hides behind the grails that have been won.
Ah my Beloved, bless still eleventh son
Until the great occultation is done.

26 "There is no one like the God of
Jeshurun, who rides up above
The heavens to help you, and in His
Excellency on the clouds is.
27 The eternal Ælohim is
Your refuge, and underneath are
The everlasting arms, He'll thrust
Out the foe from before your trust,
And will say 'Destroy!' 28 Then shall live
Israel in safety, fugitive
No more spring of Jacob alone,
In a land of corn and new blown
Grape juice, His heavens also drop dew.
29 O Israel! How blessed are you!
Who is like you, a people saved
By YHWH, the shield of your help craved
And the sword of your majesty!
Your enemies submissively
Bow to you, and you shall tread down
Their high places outside the town."

The twelfth name is a hidden name to last
And many have in crowded streets gone past
The hidden divine guide who might have given
The answer to the questions they had striven
To find to save their souls and show the blessed.
The last name though not mentioned is the best
In days of life, in sweet communion's fold.
His comings and his goings go untold.
Yet one day in the brightness and the cold
His enemies submissively though bold
Shall bow before him and take grateful hold
On the faith that he kept secret and true.
Who now bow down to idols and their crew
Shall one day, my Beloved, acknowledge You.

DEUTERONOMY 34

1 Then Moses went up from the plains
Of Moab to Mount Nebo rains,
To the top of Pisgah, which lies
Across from Jericho's descries.
And YHWH showed to him all the land
Of Gilead as far as Dan,
2 All Naphtali on every hand,
Land of Ephraim and Manasseh,
All land of Judah to the way
Of western sea, 3 the south, and plain
Of the valley of Jericho,
The city of the palms in train,
As far as Zoar. 4 Then YHWH said
To him, "This is the land of which
I swore to make Abraham rich,
Isaac, and Jacob, saying 'I'll
Give to your descendants a while.'
I've made you see it with your eyes,
But you'll not cross over the rise."

How Moses longed to enter in the land
Of promise, yet a better thing in hand
You gave him! Such is punishment You mete.
It's better far that any former treat,
And instead of the better, it tastes sweet.
Punish me too, Beloved, with visions grand
That cover all the glories of the sand
Of the salt sea until the western rise
Gives way to olive green and purple skies.
Give me the visions Moses saw to know
The way that righteous people ought to go,
As well as visions of the mountain steeps
Covered with sorrels, lichens, and the deeps
Of valleys where the secret lilies grow.

5 So Moses the servant of YHWH
Died there in Moab's land and true,
According to the word of YHWH.
6 And He buried him in a vale
In the country of Moab's pale,
Opposite Beth Peor, but none
Knows his grave to this day when done.
7 Moses was one hundred and twenty
Years old when he died full and plenty.
His eyes were not dim nor his strength
Diminished in all of his length.
8 And the children of Israel wept
For Moses in Moab's plains kept
For thirty days. So days of weeping
And mourning for Moses were keeping.

Some mourn for thirty days, a month of time,
And some for forty scented with the thyme,
But I, Beloved, in mourning dress or not,
In silence keep a vigil on the plot
Of silvered willow, trembling aspen leaf,
And carve in granite eyes a narrow grief.
Some mourn for thirty days as Moses done
When Moab's shadows on the hills had run
In red and purple fingers, hands and hips,
And some mourn forty days not moving lips.
But I, Beloved, range through the virgin wood
And keep within the chamber of my mood
The joys of knowing, sadnesses to part,
And pass alone beyond the veils that start.

9 Now Joshua the son of Nun
Was full of wisdom's spirit won,
For Moses had laid hands on him,
So Israel's children heeded him,
And did as YHWH'd commanded Moses.
10 But since then there's not come nor chose us
In Israel a prophet like Moses,
Whom YHWH knew face to face, 11 in all
The signs and wonders which YHWH's call
Sent him to do in Egypt's land,
Before Pharaoh, before his own
Subjects, in all his land of stone,
12 And by all that mighty power and
All the great terror in the land
Which Moses did in the daylight
Before all Israel in their sight.

Ah, face to face, Beloved, what priceless joy!
The Prophet basked in blessings, happy boy!
I seek Your face among the busy crowd,
And sing remembrance to Your name aloud.
I turn around in penitence and whirling,
Give alms in caret gold and tarnished sterling.
I seek Your face beyond the sunrise, yet
The sunset covers empty blue, I get
No nearer to the goal. Ah, face to face
Is rare encounter in the hour and place.
I cannot see Your face, though You see me,
Not only since You bear no edge to see,
But more because You are too close to know,
Closer than self, and closer, closer grow.


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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