Who is now reading this?

May-be one is now reading this who knows some wrong-doing of my past life,
Or may-be a stranger is reading this who has secretly loved me,
Or may-be one who meets all my grand assumptions and egotisms with derision,
Or may-be one who is puzzled at me.

As if I were not puzzled at myself!
Or as if I never deride myself! (O conscience-struck! O self-convicted!)
Or as if I do not secretly love strangers! (O tenderly, a long time, and never avow it;)
Or as if I did not see, perfectly well, interior in myself, the stuff of wrong-doing,
Or as if it could cease transpiring from me until it must cease.

Sometimes what you say is hard to swallow
And there are days when it is all I can do to follow
The way you walk is never easy and rarely pleasant
And sometimes it feels like you’re not present
But through it all I know that you are there
In spite of it all you still love and still care
Lord you have the words of Spirit and Life
You spoke into the darkness and created the light
We will walk by faith; in your promises we believe
And so it is in the Eucharist that we receive
The body and blood of Christ crucified
Through this love and sacrifice, we are truly alive
Consume my heart with love for you
I feel in my heart what I know to be true
By the Sacred mystery this miracle of love
I have your life within me: Heaven’s gift from above
Lord you have the words of life eternally
You became a prisoner so I could be free
I never could repay you for this second chance
You looked at me with more than a passing glance
By your grace I live my life in a way I hope will show
The change in me and how I hope to grow
Where else could we go? To whom else could we look
Where one so great came down and in our form took
So we might see and come to understand
What it means to love and lend a hand
Can we believe in something greater than ourselves
Don the cloak of humility and put pride upon the shelves
Lord you are the way that leads us to the father
You are the shepherd and you are the potter
Lord you are the truth in a world of lies and deception
The banquet is prepared for the wedding reception
Lord you are the life that shines in me today
And though sometimes it’s hard my faith in you will stay

And that night I was a mechanical doll
and I turned right and left, to all sides
and I fell on my face and broke to bits,
and they tried to put me together with skillful hands
And then I went back to being a correct doll
and all my manners were studied and compliant.
But by then I was a different kind of doll
like a wounded twig hanging by a tendril.
And then I went to dance at a ball,
but they left me in the company of cats and dogs
even though all my steps were measured and patterned.
And I had golden hair and I had blue eyes
and I had a dress the color of the flowers in the garden
and I had a straw hat decorated with a cherry.



Translated from the original Hebrew by Karen Alkalay-Gut.

It is the Muses
who have caused me
to be honred: they
taught me their craft

Children astray to their mothers, and goats to the herd,
Sheep to the shepherd, through twilight the wings of the bird,
All things that morning has scattered with fingers of gold,
All things thou bringest, O Evening! at last to the fold.

Nothing in the cry
of cicadas suggests they
are about to die

Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
    as the two halves of a melon.

How admirable!
to see lightning and not think
    life is fleeting.

Autumn moonlight--
  a worm digs silently
    into the chestnut.