A poem after Tisha b'Av

WATER FROM THE SOURCE

No blessing is so fervent

as the one over water

fresh from the faucet

adorned with ice cubes

and a quarter of a lemon

at the end of Tisha b'Av.

The crunch of snap peas

cold from the fridge

and sweet as sugar

their texture, crisp

and bright against the tongue

almost brings me to tears.

A day immersed in trauma,

the fallen temple of justice

mothers wailing for their sons --

our fast can't bring

children back to life,

rebuild what is broken.

But it reminds me

people know this emptiness daily

and have nothing to eat.

And that other hunger

for an end to prejudice,

for a world redeemed...

God, rouse my thirst

for righteousness. Make me

care for this damaged world.

 

 

This poem's title comes from the Hebrew song וּשְׁאַבְתֶּם-מַיִם בְּשָׂשׂוֹן / ushavtem mayim b'sasson [here on YouTube], which is a setting of Isaiah 12:3.

(See also Amos 5:24, "Let justice flow like waters, righteousness like a mighty stream.")

It is traditional Jewish practice to fast from both food and water during Tisha b'Av, when we remember the two fallen Temples and mourn the brokenness of creation.

On "the fallen temple of justice" and "mothers wailing for their sons," see: George Zimmerman, Not Guilty: Blood on the Leaves by Jelani Cobb in the New Yorker and Trayvon Martin and the Irony of American Justice by Ta-Nehisi Coates in the Atlantic.

Image credit: by gnuckx, licensed under Creative Commons.

As we move now into the seven weeks of consolation between Tisha b'Av and Rosh Hashanah, may our Tisha b'Av galvanize us to build a more healed and redeemed world.