Pardes
(The Orchard)
Four entered the Pardes.
Ben Azzai gazed
and died.
Ben Zoma gazed and
was stricken.
Ben Abuya gazed
and cut the plants.
Rabbi Akiba entered
in peace and left in peace.
The Talmud
nimbus—cleft, cerulean, with red
and black arc and rose finial—chariot
to the seventh palace and back.
I’m not dead, stricken nor graven. I am I,
spindrift across the orchard for the sake
of heaven and turn to where a beam forms,
and set out, with you, this time, my fare,
into new worlds—the promise we hold
even now in the drone matter of everyday.