God’s Decree to Marc Concerning Why the Dusty Rose Bedroom Walls Make Him Uneasy

Because the color is what you call endometrial red and you can not return to the womb and because you think you have learned from Heraclitus That the same man can not enter the same woman a second time And because it is Yom Kippur and you have ate of the pork fried rice. And because you are feeling your wife’s nipple harden against your tongue And because you feel her hand on your head like a yarmulke And because she said softly “mouth” And because you said, “Should I start with feet” and she laughed, “Oh God Yes” and after you have traveled down and traveled up And because the red sea parted as you say Sh’ma Yisrael with words weighty And unpronounced and because she called out my name two times And not because she said “Oh god Oh god” but Said the name that could not be said with consonants or vowels And because she put her palms on your head, as if to bless you and said, “We’re done” And because she is your prayer, your only prayer, Through her I will inscribe you One more year in the book of life With letters the color of dusty rose and not With the fiery soot of Hebrew that is the color Of the wings of rising ravens who turn white Upon entering heaven.

Let her lead you on.