Relentless Prayers Invoking God
Surely You can hear them spiraling upward
in chiming collisions. There is a tremor in the
world; slow, bleeding sunsets exude negative
energy, drain the steady flow of healing sun-
rays rising from the east . . . during Shacharit.
The universe spins in the orb of righteousness,
nurses each re-born soul with fantastic desires
and wild passions, dances to brightest thoughts.
You, our Protective Shield, thirst the company
of men; fashions experiences for self-indulgent,
ear-deaf to my son’s cries. Early light brings us
closer, You and I visible to one another. I tightly
roll the leather straps around my arm and fingers,
faith must be the answer to formidable obstacles,
I convince myself as I kneel, repeat, Give him Life!
Passing Through the Cemetery
Exhausted from the long stay at the ER,
I walk away, angry at the ten specialists
and their failure in finding the cause for
his sudden illness, stop by Starbucks
on Colley, buy a Carmel Frap and two
almond snacks for the late-night drive
around town; consider the uncertainty,
the risk of premature passing, how his
young-life might turn into a memory.
I end on Princess Anne Road and park
by the partially open gate; massive black
poles with rustic Star of David mounted
on two stone columns, both safeguarding
the living from the dead roaming expansive
rows of marble stones, sharp foliage poking
through crevasses on headstones, the cold
is oppressive to bones. I crouch by mounds
of cool earth, a tide of fury rises within, with
hesitation push my hands into the damp earth,
feel her richness tingling through my skin, roll
my head from one shoulder to the other, rocking
my body side to side and weep freely, I seized
eternity, open my heart to higher consciousness,
Shepherd of the Forest, receive him with dignity.