And Calm Prevails: A Chanukah Poem1 min read

Wind howls against the window

Swirling sheets of rain slice the air

It is cold outside, bitterly so

A hibernating city, shrouded in darkness

Inside it is warm

Light, silent

Inside I am dry

Content, awake

But the windows of my soul are wet

just the same

Time stands still

Steady is my hand

Time to open up

Ready to lay it out

My soul

In eternal fire

Single flame dances on a wick

Spirit of Man and his darkness

God’s glorious Candle

Unified, indivisible

Inclusive of seven holy powers

Hidden within the storm, usually

But that show themselves

One by one

On the branches of the Menorah

With such otherworldly grace

Haneiros hallalu kodesh heim

Neshama shenasata bi tehorah hi

Seven facets

One flame

Kadosh v’tahor

And then, on Zos Chanukah

The Source revealed

Binah emerges

Mother and Daughter embrace

All is rectified

All is free

Look how he stands

A candle in the darkness

Nothing to hide

Nowhere to run

No desire to, anyway

Freedom

He catches his reflection in the windowpane

And sees the High Priest, kindling the Menorah

Broken heart, wide open to the deepest fixing

The pinnacle of creation

 “Pi k’fihem v’asiyasi k’asiyasam”

Tonight, the darkness is banished

Tonight, the bright lights of falsehood fade away

Before the brilliance of Jewish defiance

that small flame that never dies

Tonight, storm meets storm

And calm prevails