Kislev 5783
We can’t see a seed of light
In the brightness of the day.
Arrow of rose quartz
Resting on my chest
Its six-sided column;
One end pointing
Toward my heart,
Tiferet.
The other,
The full roundness
Of my mouth,
Samekh.
This is the crystal I bought
On the Island of Death,
After you died, mom.
I bought it
Because you had died.
On the threshold
Of the month of dreams,
Deep in that light
Only darkness reveals,
Trust moves me to sleep.
Right hand surrounding
The stone ‘round my neck,
The stone I placed there,
Dreaming herself opens.
There was a bat
In my living room.
It flew out
The open doorway
To my home,
While heavy TorahThe Five Books of Moses, and the foundation of all of Jewish life and lore. The Torah is considered the heart and soul of the Jewish people, and study of the Torah is a high mitzvah. The Torah itself a scroll that is hand lettered on parchment, elaborately dressed and decorated, and stored in a decorative ark. It is chanted aloud on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat, according to a yearly cycle. Sometimes "Torah" is used as a colloquial term for Jewish learning and narrative in general. scroll
Leaned fully against
My heart.
Facing early morning darkness,
An irregular cloud
Of black bats converge,
Flying directly
Toward my open vessel:
Their alternate perspective,
Is most welcome here.
Yesterday,
Following this dream,
I dressed for you,
Beloved,
And took You to my bed.
I don’t yet understand
Why my heart is on my left side,
The side of Gevurah,
Unless it means
That it is your heart,
That is more precious
Than my own.
I think this,
My ear listening,
As a drum pulses
On the right side
Of your chest,
k.d. lang smoothly crooning
In the background,
“Sometimes,
All I need is the air
That I breathe,
And to love you.”
Laying down
In Teshuvah,
In the glory of Hod
Humbly I (re)turn to You.
You are always there.
Torah teaches
Our leaving,
For home,
Is always
In the direction
Of love.
