Kinah 16-Absent The Light
In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.
(Rumi, 1235)
Remember what the foe, Titus, did within the Temple precincts.
He drew forth his sword and entered the Holy of Holies.
He shocked our heritage when he profaned the Show Bread,
and pierced the curtain, embroidered on both sides (Kinah 16 -First Stanza).
Our enemies would say that if Titus could do as he did, then there was nothing in the Holy of Holies.
We would say that Titus was limited by his inability to see the light and the beauty that were within the Temple.
We can still say to God, “You dance inside my chest, where no one sees You.”
Our enemies would say that there is nothing dancing inside of our chests. The dance is imaginary.
They would say that our tears today are empty.
We respond by transforming the tears into art; by applying the lessons to our lives, by studying the messages of all the calamities of this day, and striving to continue to nurture a relationship with God that is truly an art form.