Shabbos

Fragile light falling, light dust
twisting delicately around the chairs.
It is late afternoon, the hour before
se'udah sh'lishit, when everything
is still and at peace with itself.
We are full and the Sabbath is sweet.
Halten shabbes iz gringer
Vi macher shabbes: To observe
the Sabbath is easier than to make it,
but the making, too, must have been
a delight: the slowing of time like
thick molasses spread across
dark rye. Galaxies spinning,
then leisurely growing accustomed
to their new weightiness. Forests
of trees, and ferns, and deer—all newly
awakened—taking in the stillness.
Itlecher mentsh hot zich zein shigoyen
Every man has a madness of his own.
The greatest madness must be
the throwing off of this gift of peace
in a world too much in movement,
too concerned with the making to
stop and take in the rest.