Barred from the black bars of Tefillin

From the prisoners’ stripes of the prayer shawl

I enslave myself with a mark of women

I mark myself with an awl

 

For I have loved, I have loved

I have loved my master

I shall be a handmaid eternal

These bonds shall not be severed

 

So take me to the lintel

The mezuzah in which are etched

The same words that adorn your gear

I too shall have

A covenant in flesh

A little hole in my ear

 

My earring, my earring

Joy of the slave

Loving and fearing

Jubilant

And grave

 

Not baubles to cast to a golden calf

But an emblem, a halo, a helix

Of the Lord’s household are we not half?

Were we not there when ye left Egypt?

 

Had Moses’ staff no distaff?

 

We danced there, you know

With our earrings and bangles

With our tambourines

There by the sea

And as we swayed, our jewelry jangled

And rang

 

It sang

The slave of the Lord alone is free