Jewish Poetry

For Addie

What I have is for you.
Everything – every penny
and every object.

The air that surrounds us
I have gathered so you
could breathe it.

What I have is for you.
My skin and my words.
I say them, hoping

they’ll go into your ears
and you’ll keep them.
I have so many things

lying around. Collect them.
Organize them into rainbow
colors if you must.

What I have, even the things
in my name, especially the
things in my name

are all yours. My name
is your name. Use it freely.
What I have is for you.

All of my time – don’t
count the seconds.
They are infinite and

they are all yours.
What I have is for you.
This is my offering.

Build something important
with it. So in a thousand
thousand years

they’ll still talk about it.
What I have is for you.
Let me fill your pockets.

Let me be
your entire
inventory.