Shem and the dry Jack

Bill's interpretation of "Igxuhp zvmwqfb Jack dry stolen" is as follows: Jack refers to Pharazon. Dry, because it can mean "not baptized" and because baptism is for the remission of sins, means that Pharazon has not been forgiven. Stolen refers to the crime which is still being held against him.

The more I think about it, though, the stranger it seems to refer to an unforgiven Pharazon as "dry." I mean, his punishment was that he and his whole kingdom were sunk to the bottom of the sea. That's about as wet -- and, etymologically, as "baptized," as it's possible to get. If he were still unforgiven, he would still be full fathom five and thus thoroughly wet. A more likely reading of the message, I think, is as a demand to know how and why Jack is now dry, instead of being in Davy Jones' locker where he belongs. Among the meanings of the verb steal is "to move silently or secretly; to convey (something or oneself) clandestinely." Has Jack somehow escaped?

And this brings us to Yes and No, my puppet show in verse. No manuscript has survived, so all I have are the bits of verse I still remember. In one scene, No (Noah) is holding forth about the perfect righteousness that entitled him to be spared in the Great Flood, at a time when even angels were punished. At this point, one of these rebel angels, Shem (Shemyaza) shows up and says:

Ironic words from one who has a

son named after me, Shemyaza!

In some of the apocryphal Enoch literature, Shemyaza is the ringleader of those whose crimes prompted the Great Flood. He is therefore a Pharazonic figure. No can't understand how Shem can be appearing on earth at all, since he's supposed to be imprisoned in hell. Did he somehow escape? Shem responds that he was released by Yes (Jesus).

No:

But how is it you are unjailed?

Can hell's security have failed?

Shem:

Have you not heard? Ere Yes was risen,

he came to visit us in prison.

We asked for freedom. Can you guess

how our request was answered?

No:

Yes!

At the time I composed this, I was quite proud of having made No's three-letter line mean four things simultaneously: (1) Yes, I can guess. (2) Your request was answered "yes." (3) Jesus! (So he's the one who freed you.) (4) Jesus! (an exclamation of shock and dismay).

Shem (whose name means "name") has begun by claiming that Noah's son Shem was named after him. He goes on to claim that lots of other things were named after him, too, including the Tower of Babel (on the grounds that its builders said "let us make us a shem"). When challenged by No, Shem goes so far as to claim that God himself (called ha-Shem by the Jews) is named after him.

Shem:

My name and fame cannot be slain.

No:

You take them for your own in vain.

Not every Shem-named thing pertains

to you, Shemyaza. Use your brains!

You claim the Tower and my son.

Well, what about the Holy One?

He, too, is called the Shem. Pray tell,

dare you take that in vain as well?

Shem:

Why not? Like us, the Holy One

came down to earth to get a son.

I was the first. It well may be,

he named himself to honor me.

No:

No, Shem! I no you to your face.

To listen further were disgrace.

I no you, Shem, I curse your name!

Shem:

Be careful!

No:

Back to whence you came!

Shem:

I came from Heaven, foolish No,

and back up there I cannot go.

This earth has now become my sphere,

and I intend to stay right here.

No eventually pulls out his trump card, but it doesn't work.

No:

In Yes's holy name I banish

you. Begone, Shemyaza! Vanish!

Shem:

In Yes's name? Now that's a laugh.

You'd banish me on his behalf?

In Yes's name? But Yes is he

who came to hell to set us free!
That Yes who came and turned the key
to liberate the likes of me

is who you would invoke this day?

In Yes's holy name, I stay. 

The fact that Shem is on earth at all, and that he cannot be banished in Yes's name, suggests that he is telling the truth here: It really is with Yes's permission and approval that he has left hell and returned to earth.

Incidentally, the Buddhist "soul transcendence ceremony" mentioned in "Blue-green 'and'" involves releasing souls from hell and allowing them a chance to reincarnate.