It’s All Melting Away – A poem for parsha Behar (Aliyah 1)

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But in the seventh year, the land shall have a complete rest

Everything needs a break
not just people, though how many of us
ignore the seventh day with our

cars and devices and our
epic series finales – While the body
grows tired and old and

pines for a sleep, like the Earth
who has been given no rest
whose animals and ice are

starting to melt away,
whose plants are considering
withholding oxygen

until we get our act together.
And I use the words starting
and until, as if it’s not too late

as if I haven’t seen the articles
saying the word we should use now
is not change but crisis.

This is a crisis. This is us
forgetting how to breathe because
we forgot to take a break and breathe.

When you fly across the world
it seems like it goes on forever.
It’s easy to forget there’s

only so much, that this
could all run out. That you’ll
end up where you started

That it could all go away
because we didn’t give it a rest.
Give it a rest.

These poems are offered free for your enjoyment. If you use them as part of an event, meeting, educational or liturgical setting, please consider tipping the author.

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