Untie my tangles
October 24, 2015
I come to you tangled.
I come to you hurting
and afraid, my muscles
in knots, my heart sore.
You won't judge me
even if I cry myself ugly.
Even if my circuits are wired
strange. Even if I ache.
Run your gentle fingers
through me. Loosen
the snarls, the snares.
Remind me how to breathe.
Tell me I'm not too much.
Invite all of me
to walk with you. See me
and I become whole.
This is another poem of yearning which will probably become part of Texts to the Holy.
It riffs off of the prayer Ana B'Koach, which asks God to untie our tangled places. And the final stanza hints at a verse from this week's Torah portion, Lech-Lecha. In Genesis 17:1 we read that God says to Avram, הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי, וֶהְיֵה תָמִים - "Walk before Me, and be תָמִים / tamim." Though that English doesn't really capture the reflexiveness ofהִתְהַלֵּךְ / hit'halech, which might mean something more like "walk with yourself" or "bring your whole self to walk." And what is tamim? Some translations say "pure;" some say "whole-hearted." In this context, I like to translate it simply as "whole."