Ma'aleh

The prisoners shall go free--
I take their names
And pin them to my wrist.


I serve as a savior
on Mount Zion for shadows.
They pass me on their way through the veil.

The prisoners shall go free--
But not me.

I am locked
In a Torah of commandments
that tell me how to
pray and what to wear, and
when I must not touch a man.

My Messiah
would know if I grasped his robe
and so I
clasp my hands behind my back.
He is a warlike God.
He protects me with
Jots and tittles and hedges.

I read and I understand and I err.
Each misstep is noticed,
But when I cry, I sob alone.
Unheard
and unredeemed
in a cloud of witnesses.