Happy Ending to the Ninth of Av
Arguing the pros and cons
of regulations God prescribes,
identifying as black swans
false prophets, foolish priests and scribes,
tête-à-tête in disputation
tarnishing the Temple’s luster,
did not foresee the conflagration,
noir villains in this sad blockbuster,
rescreened each year on Ninth of Av,
like “Ten Commandments” on Passover,
directed by Whose Name’s above
pronouncing, I’ll thus here pass over,
twice witnessed on this day by Jews
who had ignored most serious omens,
and twice would tragically refuse,
like Caesar, noblest of the Romans.
There’s a minor feature later,
“The Fifteenth” after “Ninth of Av,”
celebrating what is greater,
making war no more, but love,
providing for the fast an ending
that’s happy, as in La-La-Holly-
wood, all Jewish people mending
what had been sad, but now turns jolly.