A Second Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur
one
hallowed day
for a reckoning of
all the days
of the year
crowded
with words
confessions
pleas
our souls’
calculations
until
hollowed out
exhausted
famished
emptied of
remorse
regret
we are ready
to begin
again.

That
is the plan
but
how do we begin
again?
how can we be
relieved
of the burdens of
the past year
when it
remains
present?

Present
each day’s
every-day
reckoning
of grief
anguish
fathomless
loss
amid
relentless
destruction.

But
also
present
resilience
this day
apart
with all its
demands
feeds us
fortifies
our moral fibre
strengthens
our resolve
to resist
despair
with its
steadfast
vision
of a different
future.


Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah