SONG FOR THE SIXTH DAY

On the sixth day I labored
to birth a world.

To make room for you
I contracted myself, touched

the place where I disappear.
And for you, the journey

from my endless embrace
into the world of separation...

But when my work was completed
I gazed into your bottomless eyes

-- my image; my likeness --
and I was not alone

rest with me now
and remember.

This week's poem was written to serve two purposes. It's part of my mother poems series, and it was also written to be read as the "psalm for the day" in Friday morning services at smicha students' week. Five of my classmates and I collaborated on leading the morning service today, and this psalm was my offering.

In the traditional framework, the psalm for the sixth day (Friday) is psalm 93, which I love, though I read this psalm in its place. This is a much more personal psalm. It's autobiographical (the day I spent laboring to bear Drew was, indeed, a Friday) and is very much about the two of us -- but it can also be read as God reminiscing about the process of creation and the resting which followed it. Now that I've given birth, I understand the kabbalistic notion of God's tzimtzum, self-withdrawal or contraction, in a new way. My sense of God-as-mother is rich and vivid these days.

Wishing all who celebrate a Shabbat filled with sweetness, a taste of paradise! And to everyone else, hey, have a great weekend.

This poem wasn't written in response to a Big Tent Poetry prompt, but if you head over there, you can check out this week's "get your poem on" post to see what others have written.

[sixthday.mp3]