In this poem, I have taken some of the mystical meanings of the Hebrew letters of Shir Hashirim, The Song of Songs, writing them into stanzas.
Shin
Feather-touches gliding
Lengthwise,
Along cool metal skin.
Mother letter,
With her 3 knowing fingers,
Gestures toward our room.
Resh
Over the threshold of submission,
We turn, again,
To lay ourselves down.
Hei
Toes bury and curl,
In the richness of
This fecund
And Holy soil.
Hineini, in unison,
Sweetly humming,
“Here I am.”
Shin
Deep within the Holy fire,
When all else, superfluous,
Has been burned away,
In embers stoked,
Lovers suckling, reawaken.
Here, in hearth of heart,
All is made whole.
Shekhinah speaks, in truth
From the base of Her home: Shalom.
Resh
Refuah arrives,
As repentance refreshes,
Nested between Raphael’s downy wings
And delivered in braille
Of Rakhamin’s tender kisses.
Yud
Dancing huppah poles,
Coax bedposts to joy.
Sacred letters,
Spring forth,
From our lips to
Moisten parched mouths,
In fragrances bursting open
like ripened pomegranate seeds.
Rise up
(Re)newed refrain,
Our Elemental song,
(Re)join the choir of
The Infinite Symphony,
Of Our World Yet to Come.
Mem
Then, Lo,
From a deep well,
Of Our One Life remembered,
Springing forth in mixed tears,
The cleansing waters
of a mikveh.
For once again,
We have found the song
That only our souls can sing.
