Monday, August 11, 2008
Tisha B'Av
You enter the fire of loss.
Memories spring up of destruction, flames racing, your people scattering.
And the name of God
El Roei
One Who sees when you cannot arises within your soul
El Roei, One of Vision, aid me unveil that I might weep,
weep for dreams lost and hopes shattered,
for houses burned and souls extinguished
before their time.
El Roei, One of Sight, uncover my heart that I might weep,
weep for that which once shone, transporting souls, now lying in ashes,
for that which birthed healing, now destroyed, in ruins,
that within the world of space, that within myself,
that now lies empty, wildly desolate.
El Roei, You Who see, come,
travel down with me, down into the depths,
for You can see in the shadowy places.
They are there, I can feel them,
all my ancestors live in me.
I can feel them in the pulsing of my blood, in the beating of my heart.
Each ninth of Av they call to me
crooning in the night alongside the jackals,
the young men slain, the babies starved, the women raped and killed.
I see their bodies in the moonlight.
They flicker inside of me.
El Roei, can You see them too?
They join and merge with all else that has died within my life,
dear ones gone, hope lying still born, dreams dashed,
all flow into one long blue river of tears.
We all float together holding hands.
So come to me, El Roei, and show me a vision
of the seed You embedded in this day,
carried in the whispers as light dims.
For in this day also lies an opening.
They say on this day Messiah will be born.
That on this day of grief, sorrow will be transformed to heightened joy,
wounds will be healed, and all will be united, pristine, newly born.
El Roei, One of Vision,
open a window for me
that I might take a brief glance, a peek, and glimpse
the souls that are dear, the glorious light of all flowing into one melody,
all opposing forces joining hands, the lion curled around the lamb.
Let me see the voices of joy and gladness and of lovers,
sounds of feasting and singing, resounding from all corners of the earth,
gaze upon all gleaming and restored, all healed, all whole, all
One.
And then, bring me back, El Roei,
You Who know the whole.
Wipe my eyes and hold me, and sing hope into my bones.
Stir the setting sun, lay a silken cloak around my shoulders
that I might sleep and dream my dreams.
So on awakening I will see more keenly than before.
El Roei, You Who witness all, walk with me
as I prune my vines and stride the hills and smell the earth's fragrances and
weep my tears into fertile soil.
Walk with me as I look towards the sky for strength and step forward
into the day and cut my grapes to crush to wine.
El Roei, Seer of Visions, stand with me
as I walk this moon of Av
As I walk, stand with me,
You Who see it all.
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