Tirzah

Tirzah

“Reader”

Hem me in behind and before

And lay your hand upon me.

Though man is to pass me by

Still let your eyes fall on me.

“God”

I could not give you what you wanted

But you were not forgot.

If peaceful roads were to be walked

Then what poetry could I have taught?

For in your desperate downtrodden heart

Your broken soul gave way

To the music that rises from your ashes

A deeper soul, a greater way.

Some day when despair grips another

Your heart’s words will cry out

And a broken soul will find a place

To rise up and rise out.

“Reader”

You would not give me what I wanted

But you have not forgot.

How I followed you through the desert

In a land unsown and hot.

Do you remember my thirst

And the longings unquenched.

I filled my eyes with tears

All of me was drenched.

I looked to you in heaven

I scraped my insides out

There in that lonely place

All of me reached out.

I reached out for you.

“God”

Place me as a seal over your heart,

Over your arm,

For love is as strong as death.

It’s Jealousy unyielding as the grave.

I would to walk hand in hand with you

Each and every day.

I could not give you what you wanted

My jealousy would not give way.

I wanted your heart for my own

Your poetry to live.

A perfect life would have taken that from me.

You would have had no music to give.

“Reader”

So then, it is settled,

I will be your Tirzah

I will be your beloved

Your jealousy shall hold me captive

Your eyes shall be my flood.

I will dwell in you

And in you I will live.

You would not give me what I wanted

But you gave me something to give.

By ELL