My dear friend, Tammy, just had a birthday...this poem is dedicated to her...uh...let me make a few disclaimers. Tammy is a devout Christian and I TOTALLY respect this.
 
Tammy also has very fair skin, freckles and light, red hair. She is also unswervingly loyal.  Honest. Funny. A multi-facted, talented writer. And I love her dearly.

I am a secular Jew. Have many Wiccan friends. A pacifist. Not sure if love between a man and woman can last past the lust phase. Multicultural. When you put all these things together (me & Tamster), you get a weird poem..LOL.

Happy birthday Tammy and many, many more...


love,
will you, too
be just another
in my book of names,
an inky black blood
on sacrificed virgin vellum?

shall I mouth a magical number
72*, squared and cubed,
parsed on a Sabbath,
peruse each numbered letter
penned
oh so religiously, diligently?

dare I carve these words, in wiccan oak -
he loves me,
heart sore
when the gods whisper -
he loves me
not?

shall I, then display bold defiance,
will this love
rival a meteor's fiery flight
across their heavens
only to land, on the earth
magnificence -
reduced to grave rock and ashy stone?

and when the gods laugh
at me
once haughty and proud
will I whisper your  name
still defiant?

Notes: From the Kabbalah Center

"One of Kabbalah’s most important teachings is that we are not alone in life’s tasks. There are powerful tools to help us, including the Bible itself. Kabbalah teaches that the Bible is neither a topic for academic study nor a book of commandments and prohibitions meant to be taken literally. Rather, the Bible is a coded document in which the true underpinnings of the universe lie hidden — including the amazing spiritual technology known as the 72 Names of God.

What exactly are the 72 Names? According to Kabbalistic teachings, 72 unique combinations of Hebrew letters from Chapter 14 of the book of Exodus create a spiritual vibration that is a powerful antidote to the negative energy of the human ego. This revelation is a crucial step forward in the work of Kabbalistic masters over thousands of years."