,
small domestic stories
suited to those who do not learn Torah,
it is told that the infant soul
who is chosen for life receives tutelage
from the angel Raphael:
first in all the languages, the
seventy human tongues,
then in the sciences of life
and stone, the layers of sediment
that raise mountains and the
waters that wash them
down, tubers, nuts, fruit, turning
leaves, sweet ripe grain (seed
and staff of life);
the angel teaches all the human
layers, also: ancient regimes
and cities to come, belief,
childhood fears, first love,
loyalty, low envy,
the arts of making and showing;
at last he imparts the whole Torah, supreme
wisdom, knowledge of the causes
of things. Then the angel taps
the small upper lip, leaving his print,
and the soul forgets.
Thus, says Socrates, the soul "is filled
with forgetfulness and weakness. . . grows heavy
and in its heaviness molts its wings
and falls to earth." So the
distraught soul, shivering and longing
for what it has mislaid, desires to
recollect its rich yield. Hence
the unspeakable sadness of women,
who may not study Torah.