Last Priestess of Solomon's Temple

I am Serah bat Asher, last Priestess 

of Solomon’s Temple, murdered by the priest,

Hilkiah and his conspirators. 

I am far from their only victim. 

It begins with the assassination 

of good King Amon. 

My loyal family and others of the palace 

are falsely accused and quickly executed 

to conceal the truth.

I am spared by Queen Mother Jedidah 

and enter Temple training. 

I am endowed with the Keys of Loving Wisdom.

When two truly unite, 

they do so far beyond flesh alone. 

The feral cannot achieve this sacred union. 

Two entwine, absorb and reflect one another

until a third forever joins them.

I reveal the way of Ascending. 

I guide the spirit of Josiah my King to rise, 

that he may experience his eternal core. 

The Queen Mother intends us 

to be wed and restore our nation.

Before this happens, I am taken 

by Hilkiah and his treacherous gang. 

To me, Hilkiah lies: 

“You presume to bear Keys 

to the Mysteries of this Temple. 

Reveal your secrets and you shall live. 

Withhold and you shall perish in agony.” 

I remain silent.

To them, he proclaims: 

“She is bound and naked before us, helpless upon

the horns; now to be filled, emptied and divided.” 

There is no sufficient name for what 

these holy men, the rampant priests of Judah do. 

They look upon me, whom they pierce 

and dare apply the word honor to their crimes.

Afterward, Hilkiah wrenches my head up. 

“See me.” he hisses. 

Some dark and predatory 

thing struggles within him.

His curse begins: 

“I now erase you from time itself and silence 

you utterly, as though you never lived. 

Your female stench, which no cleansing 

can forever remove, is an affront to 

the nostrils of God. 

As long as this Temple stands, no woman 

shall ever again enter this place, 

or wield authority over me.”

He continues: 

“Man's inexplicable desire 

for your ungainly form is unholy. 

You are a hateful necessity; 

a filthy secret, best hidden from view.”

He concludes: 

“The scripture has been corrected. 

God is Father only and women are no more 

than containers for the seed of men. 

They are wombs without a true soul.”

He holds the blade of sacrifice up to my sight,

then drags it with slow force across my throat. 

I feel the cut and spray as my lifeblood 

drains out and into the vessel held beneath.

My head falls forward and I am released. 

Passing through Hilkiah, 

I see diseased plans within plans, infesting him. 

I see regicide and my boy-king in thrall 

to this tool of the adversary.

Hilkiah covers his own theft and makes an alibi 

of those men who labor to refurbish the Temple,

by claiming that no accounting for the Temple

funds is necessary, as the workers are honest.

I see how Hilkiah has long plundered 

the treasury, diverting what is set apart 

to benefit all, to instead enrich a connected few. 

His corrupt intention is to enforce 

universal worship to serve a monopoly.

I see Solomon’s house divide and fall twice 

to rubble, remaining only a pretext for war.

I see a young woman bear a child 

who is more than a man. 

He is anointed and proclaims freedom, 

but is murdered before it arrives.

New sons of darkness subvert 

his teachings to enthrone falsehood.

I see many kneeling in submission. 

Then I see Loving Wisdom return 

and hate lose its terrible grip. 

My body is cleaved in two for 

an unholy covenant of pieces. 

My blood upon the horns, Hilkiah 

and his conspirators solemnly stride 

between my savaged halves, as they recite: 

“So may this fate befall me, 

if ever I forsake my oath.”

My empty body is burned upon the altar, 

along with the first law. I leave the dead 

to bury their dead and return home.

As must ever be: Truth does rise to return, 

however long or deeply buried. 

Upon lips of clay, ring out 

true words of undying love.

Thus, does mortal flesh accomplish eternity.