My fellow barzam takers, I've been trying to sum up this experience in a neat little bow for a while and failing. The lyrics below were written (OK, borrowed) and sent to me by my dear friend Carol. I know it says "Michael's Hallelujah," but it really applies to any of us. It does what I was trying to do far better than I can tonight.

My friends, we made it. It was not fun, it was not pretty, it was not an experence we want to repeat. (I'll take a double order of that last comment, Waiter.) We expended blood (in Oregon, they don't even have a comfort station!) sweat (in Arizona and Ohio), and tears (name me a jurisdiction where there wasn't a tear.) We enjoyed Whitebread, were flabbergasted by Feinberg, we were riled and perplexed by the rule against perpetuities, we memorized mnemonics, we abused alliteration. (Some of us still are.)

Anyway...I got all choked up and such when I read this. I'm going to try not to blog anymore tonight, so as to leave this at the top, as a tribute to all of our hard work.

(You should really find this song and play it as you read this...I'm told it's from Shrek. So of course, I mean, go out and buy the Shrek soundtrack and don't download the "Hallelujah Lyrics" by Rufus Wainwright even though it is freely available on many file-sharing places. So I've heard. 'Cause I'll tell you, I went right out and bought the soundtrack. Yeah.)

Michael's Hallelujah (as written by Carol)

with credit to:

Artist: Rufus Wainwright Lyrics
Song: Hallelujah Lyrics
Copyright © 1985 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company.

I've heard there was a man who scored
A bar exam score and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for bar exams, do you?
It goes like this
The fifth, the tort
And if you must, you go to Court
The baffled judge discerning Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You studied hard; you didn’t goof
The summer
you missed out on
overthrew you.
It tied you
To a wooden chair
It broke your spirit,
it wasn’t fair
And from your lips it drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe you've been here before
You know this room, You've walked this floor
You used to have a life before it knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
an attorney’s life is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time, a fall from grace
A fear you’d fall flat on your face
But now you don’t believe that really, do you?
Remember when it ended with you?
The holy dark was moving too
And every breath you drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Surely there's a God above
And all I ever learned of love
Was how to do your best with what He gave you.
It's a moment of grace you can feel at night
It's someone who has seen the light
It's a gold and a victorious hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah