The Ten Days of Awe - Merna Ann Hecht

[Larry Robinson]

The Ten Days of Awe

These are the days 
when we think of our years 
as bird flight,
our days as wings,
we acknowledge the thrust of time,
how we turn a corner of one day
and a week passes,
how the moon slivers to nothing   
we blink and it returns.
These are the days we turn away
from the tyranny of the clock,
and the constant click of the keypad,   
to enter a blessed gate where time slows,
where we see again the faces 
of those we loved, call their voices to us. 
We might remember their hands 
shaping a story in the air,
recall the light 
that danced in their eyes,
or the shadow that dropped 
like a soft curtain when they grieved,
and we grieve with them
for what is passed. 
These are the days when we allow our hearts to break
for each flood that rips through fragile villages,
for those with neither shoes nor shelter,
for each time we have closed our eyes to the suffering  
of others, because we are overwhelmed with images 
of a world of anguish for too many.
In these days, let our hearts break open
when we choose only comfort and safety 
over speaking out to protest and witness. 
Let us praise what has kept us in life,
the smallest things that bring us joy,
a lift of spring wind grazing our cheek,
the crunch of autumn’s sweet apple,
a moment of taking the hand
of a friend who sorrows,
a patch of unexpected sunlight 
catching us by surprise,
a taste or scent that transports us
back to childhood, 
bread, wine and laughter
shared around a lively table.
In these days we braid our sorrow and joy together 
we ask that the work of our hands, 
the clarity of our minds,
the health of our bodies 
and the purpose of our actions
be for good, each for the other,
that our psalms and our songs are filled with hope
toward making what is broken among us more whole. 

	- Merna Ann Hecht