A poem for #blogElul 15: Learn

LEARN (ELUL 15)


Sun, can you teach me to gild
everything I see? Leaves,
how to flutter with awe?

Ground beneath my feet
don't let me go yet
I want to learn gravity.

Lenses in frames, I want
to learn not to mistake glass
for the view.

And you: convince me
that trying to be good is enough.
That lesson keeps eluding me.

Source of mercy, untie
my tangles: help me learn
when to hold on, when to let go.

The line "source of mercy, untie my tangles" is Reb Zalman's translation of the first line of ana b'koach, a prayer which I love.

I'm participating again this year in #blogElul, an internet-wide carnival of themed posts aimed at waking the heart and soul before the Days of Awe. (Organized by Ima Bima.) You can read last year's and this year's #blogElul posts via the Elul tag; last year's posts are also available, lightly revised, in the print chapbook Elul Reflections.