Wayne-Daniel Berard

escort (Numbers 14: 4-5)

thank god
I was wearing
my tallis the
one that a
woman named
light in italian had
made for me
a shield
of every color
because
when we made
it to the riveredge
(a dribble really a
tearstreak)
there
there you turned
and ran more like
stampeded,
even though
I threw myself
earthward in front
of
you,
halfway back
to Egypt
before I
hit the ground
raised my eyes
and there She
was you know
that buddha
smile
picture it
on the secret lips
of woman
rain drop
eyes
amening sacred
sand she offered
her arm
kabbalat begins
soon, she said,
escort me?
we linked then
(as never had
you let) and
lightly oerstepped
jordan
of the weeks
months yours
  acrobaleno
did you know
that rainbows
are merely empty
parallels until
they touch down
over here ciao
shalom

if she asked

just stop
a year of
shabbat a
year and a day
be a novice a
first-year
you'd take leave
for that next
degree you say
how about a Ph. D.
in You refuse
everything
else
(including me)
be unpresent
to anybody's
issues (including
mine) be slack
and know by whom
you're loved
meditate
go to yoga drink
tea and therapy
be present to
these ask no
questions except
what will the day
bring if the answer
is nothing open
that as gift find
guilt not guilty
and award it
a generous settlement
(money? mothers
and daughters share
one soul your
healing is
her future and
they call it trust
fund for a reason)
do not gnaw
your leg from
its trap gently
remove your
armor piece
by piece beginning
with your greaves
wear your favorite
tee shirt every
day when you
wash it stay
in your robe
ah when it's
the day have
one candle
on your cake
wish never to
blow it out
then don't
inhale shall
exhale om
it's never
too late to have
a happy novitiate
ask me

 

Pesach Island

these stone
faces
don't
turn toward
anything anyone
but away

from you

I've joined them
and this is
no easter
there's no
break here
no coming back
only a preference
for open sea
and vague
Promise over
this

over you

dayenu
we sing
it would have
been enough
it wasn’t
you weren’t
   back turned
now my face
is stone my
ears solid
stone impervious
even to the diamond
tip of hello
(and three
women
work in your
office let
one of them
call me) all
stone but
my heart
which still
beats like
a pulsing ruby
in a lanterned
chest a
pillow of fire
by night
where
whoever is
crossing will
lay their head
you can't see
not from
where you are
the same
place
you left me

behind

and I
won’t free you anymore