The striking aphorism requires a stricken aphorist.

For some weeks I have had in my head a quote, “It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it”.

I cannot quite remember how I first came upon it; I know that I have not stopped reflecting on it. Today for the first time I researched its provenance: Rabbi Tarfon, cited in the Pirkei Avot.

When I was a child I read voraciously; everything from Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul to Enid Blyton to Oscar Wilde. I feel deeply into books long before I fell equally deeply into music and the overlap of those interests is in their lyrical qualities.

And I have always believed – long before my informal and formal research into ritual and religion – that words are powerful in a way we tend to take for granted. The power of the word in the rhythm of the word.