Not Minor

longneck tribe adirozenzvi

Photo: Adi Rozen-Zvi

 

You hold on in the mountains

Where the way of life you had fled

To protect

Has become

Tied into tourists arriving:

Some to gawk

Others to try and learn a bit about

Your rich traditions,

The pain and pride,

The dignity and patient ways,

The complicated significance

Of who you are

And may wish to remain

And how it is bound into the realities

Of avenues still open to you

In a country where you are

Curios and assets,

As well as precious human beings

Full of life and memories,

And to me rare less in your numbers

Than in the profound window

You open into the uniqueness of

Each one of us

And the minority we are or can be

At any time

To some.

 

 

For the Friday Foto Fun challenge: Minorities

 

 

2019 Blessings

Black-Eyed Susan NaamaYehuda

Photo: Na’ama Yehuda

 

May this year be as calm as you need it to be

As adventurous as your spirit requires

As hopeful as your heart can hold

As happy as pure joy

As healthy as is doable

As satisfying as your widest dreams

As filled with laughter as your belly can tolerate

As nourishing as warm hugs

As loving as your heart desires

(And then some

Because we can all use

Extra of love).

 

And … while we’re at it:

May this year bring an end to what no longer sustains you

May what drains you move on, or change

May hurts heal

May grief ease

May frustration untangle till truth’s in the clear.

May worry turn action

May stagnation find pace

May you be all you wanted to be

And a bit more still, just in case …

 

Blessings be to you,

Na’ama

 

 

Be Like Cabbage

cabbage AmitaiAsif

Photo: Amitai Asif

 

“Be like a flower,” she said,

Wrinkles creasing like sun

‘Round her eyes.

“Be like cabbage, too!”

And she laughed

At my confusion and

Touched a calloused hand

To my cheek

For the umpteenth loving time.

 

“Bloom alone does not fill stomachs,”

She explained

And the years without

Flickered sad behind her smile

But did not interfere.

“Cabbage blooms as pretty as any,

Yet unlike most who wilt

At summer’s end,

It will hold goodness at the ready

To nourish you through winter.”

 

“Be like a flower, then,” she smiled.

“And like a cabbage, too.

For it will sustain you:

Bland or spiced or hot or cold

Until the snow melts

And you have lived to a new spring

And can, one day, grow old.”

 

 

For Cee’s FOTD challenge

 

On The Stair Way

Central park stairs NaamaYehuda

Photo: Na’ama Yehuda

 

Take your time

As you climb.

Hold the rail.

Breathe in. Exhale.

On the stair way

Of life

Steps of joy

Steps of strife.

Both the rise

And descent

Are energies

Quite well spent,

As long as your heart

Can extend

To see a tad

‘Round the bend.

 

For the Which Way Challenge