Lyrics adapted by Frank DiGiacomo from the play by S. Ansky. Based on THE DYBBUK, translation © 1974 by S. Morris Engel, published by Nash Publishing Corporation, New York.

Sung by Khannon and Hennakh. Hennakh is extremely concerned about his friend’s health and state of mind, and particularly worried about his use of the Kabbalah, which terrifies the orthodox and somewhat conventional Hennakh. He tries to dissuade his friend from its use, while Khannon declares his objective and his conviction of the rightness of what he is doing.

The recording is of a performance by tenors Terry Bowers and Bruce Reed, accompanied by the Composer, at the recital An Evening of New Music by Frank DiGiacomo, on May 18, 1977 at the Carrier Theater of the Mulroy Civic Center in Syracuse, New York.

LYRICS
HENNAKH:
    Khannon, Khannon, hear me now!
    You place yourself in greatest danger!

KHANNON:
    I go my own way!
    Others have stumbled and fallen:
    I go my own way!

HENNAKH:
    Remember what the Talmud says:
    Four there were who reached the heights:
    Ben Azzay, good Ben Zema, Ben Akhar, and Reb Akiva.
    Ben Azzay glanced in and was lost;
    Ben Zema looked and was stricken mad;
    Akhar it was who renounced his faith;
    and Reb Akiva alone entered all unharmed!

KHANNON:
    Others have stumbled and fallen:
    I go my own way!
    
HENNAKH:
    Do not meddle!
    Do not seek the pathway of sin!

KHANNON:
    The Book of the Angel Raziel
    teaches of holiness in sin.

HENNAKH:
    How? How is that possible?

KHANNON:
    All things created by God have a spark of holiness.

HENNAKH:
    But sin does not come from God, but Satan!

KHANNON:
    And who is Satan
    but the other side of God?
    Satan too is holy.
    He too is of God!

HENNAKH:
    Oh, Khannon, I do not understand.
    Burn the Book of Raziel,
    oh, Khannon, burn it now!

KHANNON:
    Only one thing I fear now:
    the loss of her whom I cherish
    and who shall be my bride.

HENNAKH:
    Burn the Book of Raziel, hide it!
    I am afraid for you.

KHANNON:
    Ah, these words, these signs,
    these scrolls conceal the path
    which I must take.

HENNAKH:
    I am afraid for you!
    Turn aside from all this!

KHANNON:
    Ah, holiest rapture...
    she who shall be my bride...
    ah, come!

HENNAKH:
    You walk in greatest danger;
    your pathway is strange.
    Khannon!

KHANNON:
    Holiest rapture,
    divine eternal union!

HENNAKH:
    You walk in greatest danger;
    your pathway is strange,
    beset with deadly peril    
    and laden with sin!

KHANNON:
    Bride and bridegroom,
    betrothed through all time.
    I have sought you always,
    I seek you now;
    I shall not rest for seeking you,
    my bride, ah, my bride!

HENNAKH:
    The Law protects us forever,
    a sentinel never sleeping, never dreaming.
    You must not turn from the path!
    Turn not either to the right or the left.
    Fearsome the plunge if you should fall!
    Burn the Book of Raziel!

KHANNON:
    What help have I but the help of God?
    What sin is there in that?

HENNAKH:
    You walk in greatest danger.
    Your pathway is beset with peril
    and laden with sin.
    You must not turn from the Law,
    it protects us, never sleeping, never dreaming.
    You must not turn from it
    or from the path it sets for us!
    Fearsome the plunge if you should fall!
    Sin is not holy,
    and there is sin in your desire!
    Burn the book! Hide it!
    Cast it away! Turn aside!

KHANNON:
    And now, such fire now consumes me,
    such fire, that the greatest of sins becomes now the holy of holies!
     —and that is love!

HENNAKH:
    Khannon, turn aside from all this before it’s too late!
    Burn the book, scatter it, cast it away!

KHANNON:
    And that is love!
    What help have I but the help of God!
    What help have I but the help of God!

HENNAKH:
    Burn the book, scatter it, hide it, cast it from you, cast it away!
    Burn the book! Ah, hide it!
    Turn aside, turn aside!