The wisest Jews betray, I feel,
The subtle recognition that,
Since metaphors best Truth reveal,
The Bible is more myth than fact.
Thus, far from waiting for some king
To save them from the jaws of hell
(The sort folk end up worshipping!),
On Adam’s fall their thoughts do dwell.
Just as The Lord must not be named,
So The Messiah never comes;
For, such ideals once deemed attained,
Man to Apocalypse succumbs.
Jerusalem
13 March 1994