Weekly Poems: A Poem for Yom Kippur and More

YOU ARE NOT, WILL NOT, DO NOT WHAT YOU DREAM

You are not, will not, do not what you dream.
One accepts that one cannot be pure.
Moreover, there are sins you would redeem,
Knowing that your world remains secure.
In you there is a longing to be known,
Peered right through, as sun lights up a room,
Perhaps just as you promise to atone,
Understood and loved by One whose doom
Remains wet, not yet hardened into stone.

YOU CANNOT THINK THE BOOK OF LIFE WILL CLOSE

You cannot think the book of life will close.
Opportunity must seem a right.
Most days contain a trace of paradise,
Kindling the hope that God is nice
Instead of just or loving or pure light.
Prepare for what is not what you propose:
Perhaps you think your prayers will suffice,
Unburdening your heart with hunger slight.
Repentance takes much more than you suppose.

SHE HARBORED NO ILLUSIONS

She harbored no illusions.
She knew the winter’s tale.
On and on the fragile boat
Sailed among the stars.

She managed without hope
But could not part with dreams,
And so as land approached she wept
And drank the bitter sea.

HALLOWEEN’S A SUDDEN BOO!!

Halloween’s a sudden BOO!!
And just as quick a scream:
Laughing in the scary dark,
Loving friendly fright.
On Halloween, witches come true;
Wild ghosts escape from dreams.
Each monster dances in the park,
Eating candy like a shark–
Now kiss and say goodnight!

MENTAL ILLNESS DOESN’T TOUCH THE SOUL

Mental illness doesn’t touch the soul
Even as it punishes the mind.
None can will the wanderings of the wind,
Though winter come, and tempests take their toll.
All who suffer innocent shall find
Love waiting by the window, well and whole,
Inside the heart, where it has full control,
Longing ever, ever unresigned.
Let go your fear, and follow, then, your path,
Neither more nor less constrained than those
Embraced by gods less ruthless in their wrath.
Sing bravely down the windrows of your woes,
Savoring a grace that comes and goes.

JODY AND BLUE

Jody and Blue have a great deal to do
On their way to be blissfully wed,
Determined to be repossessed by the sea
Yet confining themselves to one bed.

Bright days and nights can be had without lights;
Love works well, if by will, in the dark.
Undoing the pain of frustration and strain,
Each arrow finds always its mark.

CARE TO COME WITH ME TO OUTER SPACE

Care to come with me to outer space?
On wings of will we fly across the void,
Landing in a wilderness of wonders.
Unchain yourselves from now! The present plunders
More than you imagine, dreams destroyed
By labyrinths no longing can retrace.
Ultimately, one pursues the grace
Sought by the heart, or finds oneself employed
Doing what must one’s sweet substance squander.
As in my time, great seas, of sails devoid,
Yet beckon to the winds that guide the race.