I am from a  land of whispers
Spreading like wildfire
From town to town
House to house
Not knowing what is true
And what are lies.

I am from a land that lived on secrets
Never trusting
Not knowing
What to believe.

I am from a land of sacred days and nights,
Secret rituals
Broken laws
For in this land
If you are found
This day might be your last.

I am from a land of persecution
Where all others who were different
Were savages
And died
Forgotten
Unremembered
Letting hope fade away
As the echoes of the past
Drift still farther from the present.

I am from a land of sadness and confusion
The terror and mystery,
Not knowing who was friend
And who was foe.

I am from a land of survivors
Those who lived through the darkness
To see the light
And left their memories of the lost ones
In the shadows of yesterday.

I am from the land of the free
Where the cruel are brought to justice
And hope still lives
Where there has been
Misery and happiness
Sadness and sickness,
Treachery and lies.

I am from a land of hope
Where the people wait
Numbering the stars
Waiting for the misery to end,
The sickness to end
And the world to change.

For better or for worse,
For good or for evil,
I am from the land of the Jews.

fireflies flicker bits of soul at ocean’s edge
angel mists rise from foam to the tiny lighthouses
i wade infant waves and their tiny lion roars
dig my feet into dis-finite granules of weathered stone
spread my arms into a cross for the ocean to bear.

i wonder, as the echo of silence fills my humid lungs
if i held half a sun to my cracking lips
licked comforting fire off its dancing edges
filled myself up with stolen luminescence
would i be enough a beacon to call you to shore?

i can feel the reverberating echoes of energy
they swirl glass-filled water around my ankles
for a moment i am infinity, omnipotent, divine
the clear sky is my mirror of stars and velvet
i think i finally understand why.

then little lions swirl away and the echoes are gone
i indent the sand like a statue left to wither
in that moment i am tiny, lonely, empty
my freedom feels broken, incomplete
i’ve forgotten how to know you.

(remember to breathe) as silence fills my gaps
a lighthouse firefly drips its way to the sand
white wings sprinkle me with dew and fall to dampness
shadows make love to the edges of my eyes
my cheeks are wet from the salty rain.

my feet are cold.
you are gone.