Jewish Poetry

It’s always nice to see a project through to the end. Especially one you’ve been working on for forty years, a lifetime really, though back then people either lived much longer or they were prematurely smitten for lying with a Midianite. So when Moses who’s been working on this project, this project of getting all the people into the promised land, who’s been working on this project since back in the days when the Lord was just a glint of fire on a bush, halfway up another mountain… So when Moses, who already knows he’s not going to see this through to the end because of a brief transgression with a rock and a stick… So when Moses is asked to climb to the top of a mountain, Mount Abrim if you really must know, the mountain across Jordan…When Moses is asked to stand on top of this mountain and view the promised land, the culmination of his life’s work, a distant soil his shoes will never know… it must have been…well you can imagine. You’ve probably been there. If you’ve ever experienced anything unrequited you know exactly how Moses must have felt. Moses, the star of books two through five, turned lame duck leader, asked to pass his spiritual power onto Joshua the rookie. The end is in site and it’s not the land he sees from the top of this mountain. These old bones will rest in Moab. But don’t let me skip ahead. We’ve still got a whole book to go and it’s the longest one. Heck, there are still two chapters left in this one. You can’t blame me. I get nostalgic about things that haven’t happened yet. More often than not the present moment escapes me as I worry about its passing. How many of us exist perpetually on our own Mount Abrims pining for the distant vista, completely missing the glorious view? This is the curse of the thoughtful human, the task-focused. We, temporary mammals, this Earth not ours, but meant for the next, and, when it comes down to it, not them either. Unbreakable cycle. Know this – the promised land is where your feet are right now. Where this air enters your nose. Concentrate on that breath and you will never be left alone on a mountain.