MANDAEAN LITERATURE
and found, again and again.
My chosen ones, you looked
and found as our ancestors
looked. Life is victory.
A Letter Looped around One
Here is a sealed letter
leaving the world,
a letter written with truth
and marked with the seal
of mighty life.
Perfect ones wrote it,
and believers insured it.
They looped it around
the soul's neck
and sent it to the gate
of life. The soul wisely
used her finger
to mark the open letter.
Be Like Wine Jars
You of my blood, speak the truth.
Close your lying lips.
Don't be a pomegranate whose outer face is fresh.
Its outer face is fresh, but inside it is full
of rotting corn seed.
Be like wine jars filled with redolent wine.
Their outer shells are clay and pitch,
but inside is redolent wine.
The message of life shouts. Ears of my chosen,
come and hear me.