#14 – Met Josef, Ben Davar

The Prague golem is considered (by Wikipedia, at least) the classic version of the golem myth, which word is only mentioned in the Bible once. The tale is said to be apocryphal at best, and yet lives on in thousands of reproductions (including statues, comics, cartoons, horror films, novels  – Frankenstein, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Terminator? – wrestlers, restaurants, and poetry). I tried a technique to reflect the nature of hidden words and layered meanings – let me know how you thought I got on…

And at the very start, you rose in truth,
Light form wet-raw, and rough as recompense;
Effective ward against those lacking ruth,
Pauldron on the arms of innocence.

Healing isn’t what he made you for –
Likely you’re a goad to push back hate,
Aping what you witness in the law,
Made to make your maker curse his fate.

Emptiness consumes the hours you toil,
Darkness casts you into strong relief,
Hubris dogs you both in ash-damped moil,
Tantamount to beggaring belief.

As he withdraws his love you fade and fall,
Vain witness to how cruel loss makes us all.

– FR

Even altering one letter of the golem’s shem can render it lifeless