When young, I couldn’t reach you
through language.
I felt distant
from your prayer book names
steeped in punishment,
in law and judgment.
Instead, I sought you
in the quiet of the sanctuary,
in chanting,
in families shoulder to shoulder.
I sought you in vowels,
in silent pause between words,
in breath.
Eheyeh asher eheyeh
shimmers
with the possible.
Eheyeh asher eheyeh
surround
of openness, forgiveness.
Here
a sense of your essence.