I pray
though my faith in Yahweh, in any god
who can listen, is severely shattered.
I pray
most often to a Goddess of settling,
ShekhinahThe feminine name of God, expounded upon in the rabbinic era and then by the Kabbalists in extensive literature on the feminine attributes of the divine., shy volatile spirit of places.
I pray
when in motion:
loping through neighborhoods
weeding
and deadheading
not solely in my plot.
I pray
in accents foreign to my own ears,
after I talk to my depressed son.
I pry
my lips between desire and reprieve, tonguing
phrases that often slip away.
I play
endless games in my
head with my head.
El malei rakhamim, shokhein bam’romim,
hamtzei menukhah nekhonah al kanfei ha-Shekhinah,
I pray
as I am, I learn to greet
others and recreate what faith is.
