Your name
October 12, 2018
The syllables of your name
light me like a chanukiyah
I spill over, a brimming cup.
It's more than I can say:
more than all the prayers
and songs, poems and letters
posts and status updates
than are made in the world.
I want to say your name
pleading and marveling
cherishing and rejoicing
in every tone and every key.
It is honey on my tongue,
music for all my days.
Another poem in the Texts to the Holy mode: a love poem that could be spoken to a human beloved or to the Beloved we name as God. These notes arise out of the latter reading.
Your name - Jewish tradition sometimes speaks of God as "The Name" (Hashem, one of our names for God, literally means "The Name"), and the kaddish in all its forms refers to God's "Great Name," as well.
[A] brimming cup - see Psalm 23, "my cup overflows."
[M]ore than I can say... more than all the prayers / and songs - see the words of the kaddish. (Also of interest, though not directly related, is this terrific piece by Cantor Andrew Bernard about the sounds of the kaddish.)
[Honey] on my tongue - Torah, which is sometimes understood as one long name of God, is compared to honey.
Shabbat shalom to all who celebrate!