If you have been filtering out clojure due to dislike of JVM, give it a try with GraalVM either directly [1] or via Babashka [2]. GraalVM will in most cases not only run your code much faster than JVM, but cuts startup time from seconds down to msecs [3][4], not to mention compiling to native with c api or LLVM. With Babashka, it packages a subset of GraalVM so you don't have to install that but is more limited. So if you just want to play around with clojure to see if you like it, Babashka is a great way to start.

[1] https://github.com/oracle/graal

[2] https://github.com/babashka/babashka

[3] https://arnoldgalovics.com/java-cold-start-aws-lambda-graalv... (large proj - dynamoDB)

[4] https://dev.to/wololock/groovy-script-startup-time-from-2-1s... (small proj)