DAY 27: LABYRINTH



Do you know your way through?
Did you remember your spindle of string?
    Are you watching your own footsteps carefully?
    Is it difficult to keep your pace slow?

        Why are you walking this path?
        Do you realize there's no way out?
                    Will it bother you to turn around at the center?
                    Does the landscape change with your vantage?

                     Does the landscape change with your vantage?
            Did you expect that particular twist?
        Did you know you can still be surprised?
        Can you draw an accurate map?

    Do you know what you'll keep from the journey?
    What kind of souvenirs can you carry?
Did you intend to travel without pockets?
Do you know your way through?

Today is the 27th day of the Omer, which makes three weeks and six days of the Omer. This is the 27th day of our 49-day journey from Pesach to Shavuot, liberation to revelation.

Today's poem was originally drafted as a list of 20 questions, and the visual prosody nods to my experiences walking meditation labyrinths. The purpose of a meditation labyrinth isn't to find the way out; it's not a maze. There's only one way in and one way out. In a meditation labyrinth, it's all about the journey.

Of course, the same can be said of the Omer. And of most things, really.

Shabbat shalom to those who celebrate.