Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
In the silence of pre-dawn
Or the hush before the sunset
May your soul be soothed to know
Full widths of hope
Soft waves of deepest palette.
Soul Soothing
Month: January 2018
Loophole Lookout
Photo: Amitai Asif
When strolling down
The winding
Road
Of history
And conflit,
Beware of loopholes
Hiding
Spies
With
Less than helpful
Motives.
Look up
Look out
For any who
Proclaim
They own the path
To righteous.
Most likely they
Have arrows
Meant
To guarantee
Their profit.
For The Daily Post
Share this:
Know Everything
Photo: Atara Katz
“How did you learn how to know everything?” she asked.
“I don’t think anyone knows everything,” I responded, only half-attending. A siren from a fire-engine distracted me. The driver leaned on the horn. Someone must have not given the emergency vehicle the right of way.
“But how did you learn how to know everything?” she insisted.
The First Grader’s tone brought me back to full attention. She hung her big brown eyes on me.
“You mean, how do people work on knowing more and more?” I tried.
A shadow of a frown passed over the small visage, then the girl seemed to decide this not-at-all-what-I-asked-about-reframe is as comprehensive as this adult in front of her can probably muster at the moment. She nodded.
“Different people may have different ways of learning,” I replied, “but for me, I like finding out new things. So I observe and try to listen. I read a lot, and I ask plenty of questions …”
“… you do ask a lot of questions,” she interrupted. “But sometimes I think you already know the answers.”
I grinned. “Sometimes I do … And sometimes,” I teased, “I think you know the answers to your questions, too …”
For The Daily Post
Share this:
Weathered Walls
Photo: Inge Vandormael
The stories told
By weathered walls
Still standing tall
After the fall
So like the lives of residents
Of old
Untold
Still hold.
(In the photo: The ruins of the Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island, New York City)
For The Photo Challenge (2nd entry)
Share this:
Deliver Delight
Photo: Edna Kichka
Drenched in joy
Steeped in love
Charm us all
With delight!
For The Daily Post
Share this:
Static In The Air
Photo: Ofir Asif
There is static in the air,
Discord at what can no longer
Remain unchallenged.
There’s a buzz
To hold accountable
The hate and prejudice that has no space
Among the truly civilized.
There is hope amidst the noise:
The march of feet and hearts
That will not stay silent
At disrespect and bullying.
The sparks of light
That multiply to pull aside
The medieval darkness
Some wish to blanket over progress.
There is static in the air.
It crackles with potential.
May it smother ignorance
With wisdom.
May it end violence
Through empathy
And tolerance.
P.S. Since several of you had contacted me to ask about the photo: my nephew took this photo at the Gas Chambers in Auschwitz. The staining on the ceiling is from the Zyklon B poison. I thought this photo was an apt backdrop for the evils of racism and why it cannot be allowed to rise, no matter where or against whom or by.
For The Daily Post
Share this:
Higher Ground
Photo: Osnat Halperin-Barlev
When some try to
Evoke
Vile contempt
Foul report,
There is much more
At stake
Than a furious
Retort.
Don’t fall prey
To miasmas of
Hate and closed minds.
Do not let lower standards
Become somehow enshrined.
Call it out.
Name it loud.
But refuse the dishonorable
As normed or allowed.
Choose to level
Above.
Give a hand.
Hold on tight.
To a firm
Higher ground.
For The Daily Post
Share this:
Weathered History
Photo: Amitai Asif
In the weathered rock
Old hands of time still tick away the measured strokes
Of chisels
Embedding prayers
And faith
Into the stone.
Aged but clear
The corner breathes centuries
Of memory and hope
Of light and lore
And much too much
War.
Share this:
Beauty From The Rough
Photo: Ofir Asif
Carve beauty
Out of woe.
Hew purpose
From the rough.
Sculpt meaning
To make good enough
What wasn’t
And yet
Somehow was
All you could
Know.
Carve beauty
Out of woe.
Find you
Inside
The flow.
For The Daily Post
Share this:
Undulating Resolve
Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
When resolve wobbles,
When your heart
Worries at
Goals
And your fingers
Forget
Their own
Flow –
Recall how
Every wave
Oscillates
To and fro,
How
The ocean
Itself
Undulates
Onto each
Remote
Shore.
For The Daily Post
Na'ama Yehuda 
You must be logged in to post a comment.