metaphorically speaking Matthew 7:14, 28:6, I don't kow if I should put his image here or in my poem "Lost Boys, Lost No More, lyrics"

 

Christ walked the path first so everyone may enter in at the gate. 

 

Updated September 7 and 9, 2025; further revisions on September 12 and on September 20, the changes included grammatical adjustments and the addition of an acrostic in the first paragraph. The acrostic unfolds as: soa (shoah — ruin/catastrophe), hen (behold → behold ruin), and “soar hen”  → the phoenix-like rise, a resurrection, renewal, rebirth but soar hen may also  be pronounced “sore hen,” evoking the brokenness of the little hen) — Matthew 23:37.

Currently I'm 42, and during the 42nd and 43rd Torah-reading weeks in the Hebrew year 5785 became a personal turning point and a leap of faith in my own life. This poem draws on scriptural inspiration, including Luke 23:34, Isaiah 6:3, John 3:3, Genesis 19:26, Isaiah 1:18, 1 Timothy 6:15, Matthew 27:29, Luke 22:42-43, John 4:14, 1 Cor. 13:13, and Matthew 11:30. I attempt to use chiasmus, acrostic, and like gematria but only using the words count to reflect its themes. For those exploring numbers, the title of this collection, “5785 42 (+) 43 5786,” adds another layer: adding the numbers step by step (5785 + 42 + 43 + 5786 = 11,656) and reducing the digits (1+1+6+5+6 = 19 ? 1+9 = 10 ? 1+0 = 1) points to unity, new beginnings, and wholeness, mirroring the poem’s exploration of trial, grace, and reconciliation. The poem also weaves in other significant numbers for word count in the paragraphs, such as 70 (completion and complete prayer), 26 (the Tetragrammaton), and 38 (a journey of trial and grace), etc. Since special symbols cannot appear in the title, it is formally written as: 5785 42 (+) 43 5786. 

In exploring the numerical layers of this poem, I also reflected on the relationship between 41, 42, and 43. In Hebrew, 41 = ?? (Em, “mother”) — the origin, the hidden root. 42 often signifies completeness and divine order (the 42-letter Name of God, the 42 wilderness stations). 43, just past that fullness, can symbolize renewal, crossing over, or the child of the mother.

Thus, the sequence can be read as Mother → Divine → Renewal. While 43 is not gematrically “mother,” it may represent what is born from her — the new life beyond. In this way, 41 lingers as a ghost-presence, a feminine attribute woven subtly into the poem, like a spirit or breath beneath the surface.

Oct. 2, 2025 – The poem, at 207 words, also aligns with the Hebrew number for Or (Light). In Jewish tradition, this is the primordial light of Genesis 1:3. I recognize in its symbolism of cleansing and reflection a parallel to the poem’s closing vision: trial transformed into mercy, anguish into light, scarlet into snow. So too, as Christ would say, born again.

I offer this as one thread of meaning, without insisting on it — other interpretations may arise for those who read and reflect. -  This is poetry and not gospel.