Six Orders

Six orders six orders he arranged holy orders
Sagely crib notes of their Master’s quotes
Collected recorded preserved sanctified borders
Transmission on Sinai ever remote
Oral dissemination on the brink of destruction
Gathered, collated, bound and expounded
The Prince set down his divine instruction
Memorized, verbalized, eventually confounded
Law, tradition, sacred dictate
The nation imperiled cast to four winds
Preserved, conserved, not a moment too late
Revelation heralded despite our sad sins
Sura, Pumbadisa academies arose
New questions, old answers.
A new dialectic was left to compose
New questions old answers
Old answers new questions
New questions new questions
Old answers old answers
Six orders six orders we defend holy orders