Poem -- A Blessings before the Shema

A Blessing Before the Shema

As understood by Joel A. Levitt
with the help of Achad Ha’Am

Ashehr bidvahroh b’chachmah m’shahneh itim
(who by his word with understanding alters periods)

Separate monsters of devastation,
Organized in alternation,
Eternal source of jubilation, for
The planet, the parent, the child.

Darting sparrows, we swift around the Proverbial circle,
Neither falling into the stagnant center nor lost in the outer cold,
The planet, the parent, the child.

Unending winter – seer, starved, lifeless wanderer.
Unceasing summer – corrupting green decay.
Unremitting flood – exhausted parents founder.
Enduring drought – the bloated child is wasted gray.

Eternal life, abandoned birth --
That opened the gates of novelty and mirth.
Close the gates of evening, fast!
Eternal life is but eternal past, for
The planet, the parent, the child.

Separate monsters of devastation,
Organized in alternation,
Eternal source of jubilation, for
The planet, the parent, the child.