DAY 16 - SHOE SEEKER


How much of your life will you spend seeking shoes?
Hunting the keys you're certain you left in a pocket,
sunglasses resting unnoticed on top of your head?
Meanwhile the Holy One hides in plain sight.

Practice moderation even in your boot rack. Let habit
guide you to glide through routine, scuff on your sandals
while ice rattles in your glass. With the minutes you glean
say thanks for the big bang still unfolding.

Pedestrians carry bright umbrellas like nodding tulips.
Thread a path between puddles. Balance kindness
and determination: everything else is commentary.
If you can't find your shoes, then go barefoot.

Push your cart through the cluttered aisles.
Don't forget the intangibles: how will you nourish
the part of you that thrives not on bread but on song?
The sages say: what you're seeking is already here.

Today is the sixteenth day of the Omer, which makes two weeks and two days of the Omer. This is the 16th day of our 49-day journey between Pesach and Shavuot, liberation and revelation.

In the Mussar tradition, today is a day for focusing on the quality of "Apply business acumen to living." While I don't resonate with everything in this essay by R' Noah Weinberg, one line from the essay sparked this poem: "How much of your life will you spend being a shoe seeker?"