Poem: Supernova

Supernova

In the false dawn of the zodiacal light
The children of Israel danced and rejoiced
It was a season of joy
as they swayed, arms outstretched with palm twigs
myrtle boughs and willow branches
The Earth’s bounteous harvest had been surrendered for another year.
The fragile tabernacle that sheltered them in desert exile sat silent
as the last angels to depart sang a final hymn of praise and thanksgiving. 

The crescent moon of Cancer crossed the fourth sector
touching the Pollux before daybreak
Venus and Jupiter rose quietly in the twilight
And Orion’s Belt was above the horizon
The Three Sisters reposed dazzling in the
crystal clear Negev night.

DJ Kido orchestrated a soaring operatic trance
with a hard driving intergalactic bass
mixed with an ethereal prayer that reached out to the stars
seeking succor and cosmic comfort
And relentless synths stabbed the soundscape
cutting beautiful shapes and patterns
a kaleidoscope of visions overwhelmed.
And the frantic climax built and built upon itself
just before the expectant drop,
with cathartic release, pleasure, and ecstasy.
And the children of Israel danced unawares 

Through the nisus of space and time
the Zaddik, the Rosh Bnei Yisrael, watched over his children
and rejoiced in their delight
He could see them dancing the Hakafot with the crowned Torahs
swathed in tekhelet blue velvet
And he whispered into the impenetrable Mysterium Tremendum
“Let there be light and there was light.” 

The denizens of the peaceful villages of Be’eri, Nahal Oz, Nir Oz, Netiv HaAsara,
Kfar Aza, Holit, Kissufim, Ein Hashlosha, Nirum, Yakhini and Nir Yitzhak
woke at daybreak on this Sabbath morning and wiped the sleep from their eyes
and celebrated in the penumbra of the early morning light  

Then in a sudden prefiguration
the Rav recalled his agony forty and six years ago
when the crushing pain gripped his chest
The sharp talons choking his heart and starving it of life’s breath
and he recalled the terrifying vision, the struggle for life
the dark featureless creature that he could not resist
And that vision came to pass. 

At daybreak like a blast of the Khamsin rolling in from the Sinai
the horde came down upon us
In the whirlwind of the sharp blistering sand
we could see Muchhushshu, Mardok’s Dragon
From his high walled cage in the Wadi-Abu Diba
the serpentine lizard had escaped, frenzied and excited
He had been unleashed upon the world
A hideous form:
His body scaly, hind legs with the talons of an eagle,
lion forearms, a slithering tail, two horns on his head,
with a spitting venomous  snake-like tongue.
His breath poisonous and blood toxic 

I had seen his visage once before on Ishtar’s Gate,
the eighth inner gate surrounding Babylon
when Nebuchadneszar’s chains weighed heavy on me.
A species of true terror, it’s movement inexorable,
unyielding, against whom I was powerless.
The monster and his hosts fell ferociously upon
the dancing merrymakers
and the Werehyenas and vampiric Kaftars
cackled, screamed and howled.
The Jinns and their hooting half-bodied Nasnas spawn
fell on us like locusts 

They came from Hormah
by the thousands dissembling human shapes and forms
Devouring, raping, maiming, and butchering
Dragging their half alive prey away
Mothers wailed over their slain babies
and bodies lay limp, suffering and dead
The Kaftars feasted on the children,
dripping blood, gluttonous and braying for more
and the Jinns and Nasnas ravished our girls and women
Everywhere destruction and desecration reigned
and the town and villages were left desolate and despoiled.

Just as in the days of yore
when Moses sought the intercession of the Lord over the destruction of the Amalekites, the Rav, in his blessedness
who stood in the council of the Almighty in his eternal court
Did beseech the Lord.
And the Lord heard the voice of Israel and the pleadings of the Rav
And the mighty army of Judea was awakened
And numberless divisions and warriors were raised
And great armament and weapons were garrisoned
And a giant sand Kraken with eight arms arose and dragged Mardok’s Dragon
deep into the Negev dunes quenching his fiery breath
And the Werehyenas, Kaftars, Jinns and Nasnas sated on blood
weakened by their bestial orgy
were trapped and killed.

And the Lord heard the wailing and cries of the children of Israel
delivering up the people of Hormah
and the armies of Israel utterly destroyed them root and branch
leaving a wasteland.
For the leaders of Hormah had led their own people
into exile and the bondage of the Edomites

After the great wars the people of Israel rebuilt their cities
and replanted their fields and great wealth flowed
into their storehouses and works
The call of a great shofar was heard
An immense ingathering from the diaspora,
And the merging of the exile commenced as
extraordinary commemorative plans were laid.

A thousand named babies would be born for every child carried away
and every one of these children
would be nurtured and cradled in the loving arms of the Jewish people
each given such education, and such special training
in the arts and sciences and morals of our people
that these children would grace
the world with their beauty, accomplishments and essence.

And for the dancing stargazers who were so brutally cut down
a tremendous space array named Supernova
will be born aloft into the heavens
bearing the names of those lost on 22 Tishrei
An observatory that will peer deep into the cosmos
searching for new worlds
Twelve hundred discovered planets
will bear the names of our children and parents.
Eons from now these places will know their namesakes. 

In memory of those crippled, and wounded and injured
a research hospital unlike any other will be built in Sderot
a hospital where people from around the world
come for treatment and life saving cures
A place where the whole world can see the
the sacred respect for life held by the Hebrew Nation
And Israel will send their medical emissaries with their healing
arts to all places where people are sick and suffer
like the Therapeutae of ancient times on the shores of Lake Mareotis.

And for every fruit tree that was destroyed
an orchard and a vineyard will be planted
whose succulent fruits will be known everywhere
whose names will bear the names
of the villages ravaged and destroyed. 

And great philanthropies and charities will be raised
places of learning established,
voluminous libraries, Universities and Yeshivot
will be built on the desecrated lands
Great minds and scholars with interests profound and recondite
will be nurtured and kindled. 

For every workshop that was destroyed
stupendous technics and industries will be created
whose marvels and inventions will be universally known
These works bringing great wealth to the people of Israel and
its neighbours.

In memory of those lost a memorial wall
will be built in every village, and town and city in Eretz Yisrael
surrounded by a pleasure garden and playground,
A place of surcease and rest and joy and contemplation
each wall comprising one thousand two hundred stones,
individually chiseled and hand hewn
Every stone as rare and unique as those they memorialize

The stones will be quarried from the four corners of the Earth
Stones of blue granite, basalt, obsidian, shale
marble, sandstone, pumice,  gneiss, slate, petrified wood
and many others
Every wall will be built by a master stonemason
Dotted across the Holy Land, the walls serve
as a lasting reminder for all ages of the crime committed
A crime whose ignominy will echo throughout all of history.
And the names of those stolen and destroyed will not be forgotten or forsaken.
Nor will Israel’s might, greatness and compassion. 

Dedicated to those whose lives were lost at the Supernova Musical Festival and at Kibbutzim across Southern Israel on October  7, 2023 (22 Tishrei, 5784)