What Do You Have?, and: Morning
- What Do You Have?, and: Morning
What Do You Have?
Rosh Hashanah, 5770
Not this earth, not even dust—Not yours, caw invisible jayslike gates swinging shut.Not your memories, risingand burning in the airlike leaf-dew in sun.Not your thoughts, poking inand darting outlike hummingbirds in the blossoms.Only this bit of time (like clouds unforming)—even as you point to it,gone.
Morning
Tenth Day of T'shuvah, 5770
Beauty spilling through doors and windowsonto tables and floors and wallsin every room, unstintingly.I have decided to enjoy my hunger.To say How great are thy works andHow goodly thy tents, even thoughthere is no Thou for me.My regrets are many and persistent;they have dug their home in me.In spite, I have decidedto love my life. [End Page 248]
Marcia Falk is the author of The Book of Blessings, a bilingual (Hebrew and English) re-creation of Jewish prayer in poetic forms, as well as several books of poetry and translation, including The Song of Songs: Love Lyrics from the Bible; The Spectacular Difference: Selected Poems of Zelda; and With Teeth in the Earth: Selected Poems of Malka Heifetz Tussman. She is also a painter; her art may be viewed at www.marciafalk.com. MarciaFalk@aol.com
