Community Blog Tisha B’Av
Together we sit on the ground
and mourn for the peace of Jerusalem,
like the treasure we each wanted –
we pulled and we pulled,
you pulled and I pulled,
and yes, of course,
finally we succeeded
in pulling it apart.
We watched together
as it fell to the ground
and smashed at our feet,
tears sprang to my eyes,
tears to yours,
each
separately
longing to undo the moment,
to walk backwards into the past,
to undo the moment,
the moments of pulling,
to walk backwards into the past
to the moment when
we could have shared
or taken turns
or something.
Come my friend
(for haven’t we become friends after all
sharing our intimate
our primal pain)
come my friend,
come sit with me on the ground,
let us heap ashes on each other,
gently tenderly
I will teach you the melody
of my Echa,
together we will sit on the ground
and mourn for the peace of Jerusalem.
(c) Merle Feld A Spiritual Life: Exploring the Heart and Jewish Tradition (SUNY Press revised ed 2007)
Merle Feld
is the spiritual writing director in the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College and a widely published poet whose writing, including her signature poem about women and men at Sinai, “We All Stood Together,” appears in numerous anthologies and prayer books, including “Mahzor Lev Shalem” and “Siddur Lev Shalem.”