AT THE WELL
Make Me an altar
hewn directly from the earth
no steps or mountains
to ascend, only needing
your assent to arrive,
your yielding, your fierce attention
your pliable love.
I see you Miriam,
named for the bitter
and the sea, marah
seeping in mayim,
what better way
to live in Torah
than as herb and medicine
We moved alone and together
ascending, descending,
stepping towards,
moving away, our longing
mirroring the fire
and dark.
I was named for weariness
for the exhaustion of women
bearing children in pain and danger,
dying too often. I was named
by my mother Adina
Lately I’ve been turning
into fire,
those two almond shaped coals
red eyed and wanting,
accumulating heat from all
those years
at the cranky hearth,
And after Moshe our teacher
had said it all – reviewed and added laws,
rituals practices, once he had exhausted
himself with warnings
that this holy practice
is not an entitlement for favors –
everything depends on how we live,
treat each other, pay attention
Because, eikev, we came
from Egypt and saw
our mothers and fathers
wander and perish,
because we have lived too long
in the storm-tossed deserts,
have not yet seen how any land
might welcome us
with milk and honey.
Chesed: Seven Haiku
for the first week of the counting of the omer
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