And Miriam Sang

And Miriam sang 
God’s song.
It flowed 
rising like smoke
like a pillar of fire.
   And Miriam sang 
   her brothers’ song
   wild 
   jubilant
   Free at last, free at last!
      And she sang
      her mothers song, 
      crooned 
      in velvet darkness and liquid as day
      lullaby
      love song.
         And Miriam sang 
         the people’s song:
         soft and loud at once
         and liquid still, and edged in smoke
         and wild.
            A babble of song
            that lifted her feet 
            and rang out
            sang out
            with cymbal and lyre.
               Her voice rose
               like smoke,
               like air.
                  It soared. 
                  And she sang the people’s song
               sang her mother’s song
            sang her brother’s song
         sang God’s song.
      They poured forth from her
   as she danced.
The sea bed was rock-strewn
and dust
and blood now,
mixed with the dust.
Emet.
And Miriam danced 
on sharp edged stone
and she sang,
her arms lifted, with cymbals
and timbrels
and ribbons of fire that caught the light,
caught the eyes of the people
as she danced them across the dry desert sea.
 
And she sang God
   Singing faith
And she sang Moshe
   Singing freedom
And she sang her Mother
   Singing love
And she sang the people
   Singing celebration, singing fear.
And she danced
on feet that bled,
with arms raised in 
jubilation
supplication
surrender.
Weary and raw,
she danced
to a distant shore,
green and cool with a light that shimmered.
 
Miriam danced and raised her bloodied feet 
to stand upon the cool and green.
No song, no cymbal
just silence:
A final offering.
And into that stunning, that glorious silence,
she gave her weary body
   her bloodied body,
      her ribbons and cymbals,
         her vision,
            her voice.
 
            And God sang 
         Miriam’s song
      and it lifted her, like fire
   and it filled her, like love
Selah
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