A Poem for S.

The Jewish High Holidays are often celebrated by praying and eating together.  This year, many people prayed over zoom, and ate around their own kitchen tables.  This gorgeous poem by Jessica Greenbaum reminds us that there is “no congregation of figures needed.”  We carry, within us, much more than we realize. 

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A Poem for S.

by Jessica Greenbaum

Because you used to leaf through the dictionary,

Casually, as someone might in a barber shop, and

Devotedly, as someone might in a sanctuary,

Each letter would still have your attention if not

For the responsibilities life has tightly fit, like

Gears around the cog of you, like so many petals

Hinged on a daisy.

That's why I'll just use your

Initial. Do you know that in one treasured story, a

Jewish ancestor, horseback in the woods at Yom

Kippur, and stranded without a prayerbook,

Looked into the darkness and realized he had

Merely to name the alphabet to ask forgiveness--

No congregation of figures needed, he could speak

One letter at a time because all of creation

Proceeded from those. He fed his horse, and then

Quietly, because it was from his heart, he

Recited them slowly, from aleph to tav. Within those

Sounds, all others were born, all manner of

Trials, actions, emotions, everything needed to

Understand who he was, had been, how flaws

Venerate the human being, how aspirations return

Without spite. Now for you, may your wife's

X-ray return with good news, may we raise our

Zarfs* to both your names in the Great Book of Life.

This poem first appeared in Poetry (July/August 2012).

*A zarf is an ornate cup for holding hot drinks, or the cardboard sleeve on a coffee cup.