Soaring skyward
The potential of release settles in
As I meld into my seat.
Gazing down upon clouds,
Sepia toned mountains,
Sandy flats, and wandering rivulets,
I ponder this day.
Lag B’OmerA spring festival. According to tradition, the plague which killed many of Rabbi Akiba's students lifted on the 33rd day of the Omer. Thus, while the Omer is observed as a period of mourning, mourning is lifted on Lag B'Omer. It is a popular day to get married (the only one during the Omer, according to Ashkenazic practice: from that day forward, according to Sephardic and modern liberal practice). The holiday is traditionally celebrated with bonfires, and three-year-old boys receive their first haircut. Today, some three-year-old girls will also have their hair cut amidst celebration on Lag B'Omer.: day when
In the midst of a journey
The difficulties stopped
If only for a while.
Day to relinquish all mourning
And rejoice with bonfire
And celebration.
Day of hod sh’b’hod:
Presence within presence,
Beauty within beauty,
Gratitude within gratitude.
Day of mingling, and exploring
Presence with beauty, beauty with gratitude
Gratitude with presence with…
Life. Trees. Tree of life.
When the mourning subsides
How do we enter life again?
When our own seemingly tragic experience
Begins its descent into history
How do we release our grip
And let it float away into the past?
I write. When I finish this poem
I will take paper fresh with new words,
Paper that absorbed the tears of my aches,
And crumple it with all my strength
To adamantly lob into the bonfire
Begging the flames to release
The fears I’ve hidden, the pain I’ve held.
Then my gaze will rise with the flames
And in the spiraling smoke I’ll glimpse my future:
My gratitude shall be grounded,
Grounded in the beauty above,
Planted in the beauty all around.
And beauty will abound
In the Presence of All That Is.
