Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BOOK OF THE LEFT PILLAR, by MOSES OF BURGOS Poet's Biography First Line: As the idea rose in the mind of god & in his pure thought to create a holy Alternate Author Name(s): Moses Ben Solomon Ben Simeon Of Burgos Subject(s): Mysticism - Judaism | ||||||||
. . . & he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple he set up the right pillar & named it Jachin & set up the left pillar & named it Boaz . . . (I KINGS 7.21.) as the idea arose in the mind of God & in his pure thought to create a holy & a pure reality, the foundation & the pillar of perfection, to let all good things pour forth from his majesty . . . so the idea arose in his divine & pure will to create real beings according to an order & arrangement too diverse, too darkly wonderful, too distant & too strange for its logical comprehension by any of the masters of rational knowledge & of exegesis: but there is a reliable tradition, a kabbala passed on to all the masters of the hidden wisdom, that reality as a whole could not exist except through real beings, beings that do good & that do evil, that bring things into being & sustain them, that terminate & that obliterate, that give rewards & punishments: & THE ELOHIM HAS DONE THIS SO THAT MEN SHOULD FEAR BEFORE HIM (Ecclesiastes 3.14) as Solomon has said THE ONE AS WELL AS THE OTHER ELOHIM HAS MADE (Ecclesiastes 7.14): & our wise ones, may their memory be a blessing, said: HE CREATED THE RIGHTEOUS, HE CREATED THE WICKED, HE CREATED PARADISE, HE CREATED HELL, TO SHOW THAT HE CREATED ALL THINGS & THEIR OPPOSITIONS (Talmud: Hagiga 15a): & the Prophet said I FORM THE LIGHT & CREATE DARKNESS, I MAKE PEACE & CREATE EVIL, I YAHVEH DO ALL THESE THINGS (Isaiah 45.7): & listen: from the meaning of these verses we can understand & we can know that He, the Holy One Be Blest, made all things & also made their contraries, & perfectly he did his perfect work perfecting his perfection for the good ones, those whose hearts are straight: & he created evil: a new reality of being appointed to bring suffering & punishments on rebels & on sinners & on all who walk the dark & gloomy road: the unpaved way Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PATRIARCHAL POETRY, SELECTION by GERTRUDE STEIN THE IYYOB TRANSLATION FROM 'A-15' by LOUIS ZUKOFSKY A DEATH FUGUE by PAUL ANTSCHEL I HAVE A GARMENT by ABRAHAM IBN EZRA THE BOOK OF THE LETTER, SELECTION by ABRAHAM ABULAFIA A VISION OF THE VOICE OF YAHVEH by AMOS A POEM FOR THE SEFIROT AS WHEEL OF LIGHT by NAFTALI BACHARACH THE SWAMP FOX by WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS GEORGE LEVISON OR, THE SCHOOLFELLOWS by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM AN ESSAY TOWARDS A CHARACTER OF HIS SACRED MAJESTY KING JAMES II by PHILIP AYRES |
|