You say the horse has to die & come back
_____seven times
to face the beating in the grave.
_________________________________________& when she keeps dying,
_________________________You say something suddenly will come to her
____________when they ask her name.
At dusk she arises & rings the bells of coffins
to remind those who turned away
when she drew the highest number of times
they’d have to say the name of the high place,
where angels & aliens are the same
_______unresolved
_____________salvation.
You say: consider this a death
& listen. There is a number that draws her
closer to the blossoms You hang
inside the coffins. The blindfold You place
when she touches the wrong face. You say she has to lie
still inside another’s coffin as she’s beaten in the grave.
The heavens are really loud today as she’s beaten in this grave.
You say: Even at the bottom of an emptied coffin here I stand. Ask
her name. For all the times she denied the faint,
purple lights that interlace
hoof through hand. Beat
this grave. Ask her
her name.
___________________& she will listen for you,
____________________________________Great Concealed.
___________________________________________Greatest Other,
_______________________________________________Protector behind
______________________________________________________the Absolute.
Call me the fire hailing down on you. Emet.
Call me alien
rebel who gave
the shield to you
& your enemies. Emet.
Call me not the gun you fire. Emet.
Call me line of fire
when I’m staring you in the face
& you can’t see
what I made of you. Emet.
Call me reveal. Emet.
Call me resealing. Emet.
Call me the seal & the horses beneath the seal.
Tell me not what you find. I made it within you. Emet.
Call me torn angel, call me war horse, dying upon the gate. Emet.
Call me first fire in the woods
who beat into shape
your hand & forged an axe
in the thicket. Emet.
Call me your horses in the darkness
& there is a great fire among you. Emet.
Call me the terror in your horse’s eyes
when I come to save her life. Emet.
Call me the beating
your horse alive once
more in the grave.
Emet. Tell me your name.
Emet. Tell me your name & arise.
Emet. Arise.
Emet.
Rosebud Ben-Oni
Note: The word “Emet” means “Truth” in Hebrew; its root verb is “aman” which means to support. In Jewish prayer, “Dayin HaEmet” refers to The Righteous Judge, and “Baruch Dayan Emet” is said in times of loss and mourning. It is also said at the end of the V’ahavta to denote that the first person is not the congregant reading but the words of HaShem.