The Kingdom of Wax

Light the menorah. When the candles extinguish themselves, lick the hot wax from the metal, until it is shiny and clean.

Pick up a knife and make an incision across your belly. There will be a red flood, but don’t overthink it. Once, you were made entirely of wax. You lived in a wax kingdom where the spirit never dies. Then you became real. Flesh has restrained you.

But within your beating organs there is wax. It lives within you. On this final night of Hanukkah, you have found a wondrous joy that reminds you of a world without fear.