These words come after.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The sophisticated might call them Experience;<\/p>\n
Let us call them After Words:<\/p>\n
Words that cannot be denied, because<\/p>\n
They come post-event and are privy to<\/p>\n
The mistakes of the past so they can<\/p>\n
Inform the present and the future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Or, for all intensive purposes<\/p>\n
(And grownup grammar school nerds):<\/p>\n
Present tense built on past tension.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After the death of
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Aharon\u2019s two sons
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
When they approached\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One would think approaching the face of G-d<\/p>\n
Would be a good think: isn\u2019t this every soul\u2019s dream<\/p>\n
(Or, if we were more philosopher than artist, raison d’\u00eatre)<\/p>\n
To thirst for the Divine, to yearn for the Truth?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Isn\u2019t this why we are born?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He shall not come
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
At all times
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
To the holy\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
People have died with holy intentions.<\/p>\n
His own two sons, people of greatness,<\/p>\n
Were consumed by their own passion.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But passion really isn\u2019t the issue here \u2013<\/p>\n
We all know how to want, how to yearn;<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to wish to get high, to want to get holy,<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy walking through the curtain \u2013<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What\u2019s hard is walking back out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Our challenge isn\u2019t coming to the Holy.<\/p>\n
Our challenge is coming away from it.<\/p>\n
(Channeling it.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But to know how to come to and away from<\/p>\n
The Holy of Holies<\/p>\n
We first must know how no<\/i>t to come to it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Holy of Holies: a place of Reality.<\/p>\n
And a place of Reality does not tolerate<\/p>\n
False pretenses or unnatural smiles.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The only way to enter the holiest is if we<\/p>\n
Are the holiest. The only way to be the<\/p>\n
Holiest is if it\u2019s not<\/i> about us: he shall not
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Come at all times<\/i>, not when he wants to<\/p>\n
Come to the Holy of Holies; only when<\/p>\n
The Holy of Holies wants him to come to it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With this shall
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Aharon come\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We must come in peace<\/p>\n
In order to leave in peace.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We must come complete<\/p>\n
In order to leave complete.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s for a fix that we come \u2013<\/p>\n
We will leave so broken.<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s for a high that we come \u2013<\/p>\n
We will leave so low.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With this shall we come:<\/p>\n
With our purity, our humility;<\/p>\n
We shall come not to come close,<\/p>\n
But because we are close.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is only one High Priest<\/p>\n
And he can only enter once a year.<\/p>\n
But we must learn.<\/p>\n
Even when we enter our own Holy of Holies<\/p>\n
Even when we are so high, so holy,<\/p>\n
We must remember another\u2019s pain,<\/p>\n
We must know that it\u2019s not about our<\/p>\n
Selves but about the Holiest of all Holies<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After Words:<\/p>\n
After the death of Aharon\u2019s two sons \u2013<\/p>\n
Let us live and be holy.<\/p>\n