tikkun olam

ben Azzai never came home from the Light
sweet consummation took him from this world
the Rabbis say he might have got it right
if he'd entwined his soul with a nice girl
without an anchor, Pardes was too much
what he plucked there he didn't turn to share
pure mystic who had drifted out of touch
too eager to discard what we have here
between such worlds, our life's a narrow bridge
and one could lose it all to either side
it's not for us to lengthen or abridge
competing sects swear they're the only guide
like Moshe standing up to get to work
to stay in Paradise would be to shirk

the Four

four entered Paradise and three returned
soul's inward journey balanced on a knife
Elisha found his bridges all had burned
ben Azzai paid the carfare with his life
the text is terse, but midrashim unwind
Akiva's nonchalance where others fell
and how it was ben Zoma lost his mind
who'd known Yeshiva lesson books so well
of ben Abuyah Rabbis rarely speak
a subtle mind turned from the Torah's light
without a paddle, drifting on the creek
without mitzvot for guideposts in his night
on weak foundations, mystics come unwound
when they can't keep one foot on solid ground