October Days

Gone at last! - stale summer's end -
Stepped in - at a turn of the sun -
Those brisk October days.
Bright the air and clear -
Can see for miles - can breathe.
Brown the leaves and brittle -
Could take to the woods -
Could walk for leagues.
Look back early morning
At a street arched with trees:
Sunlight streams in a rising haze -
Fall is here! - harbinger
Of only golden days.

I Know a Little Succah

I know a little succah
Not very far from here -
It's in Yerushalayim -
I see it every year.

It's a sweet little succah
Just big enough for two -
And if you come and see it -
You will love it too!

Awaiting the Fall

It happens summer's end -
Plodding homeward almost felled by heat,
I look up - and there it is -
The light of fall.
(Once unshackled from the heat of the sun,
I will sing about it - how I see it in the stones,
In the trees' lengthening shadows)
Those who inwardly yearn for fall -
Where can I find them?
They would understand.
That first sighting of its light
Is the checkpoint of our year.
Behind us - only weeks to go -
The stifling country we had to flee -
All before us - that high cloud vista -
That wind and rain sown land.

Walking in Elul

It may be the month of soul-accounting
But I'm walking in Elul
Barely touching the ground -
I'm treading the path called 'Return'
With outspread wings and a song.
When I search my mind and heart this month,
I could, if inclined to, cry -
Not only do I sing, my song is about
My failing - my failing and moving on.

How grand is my King -
So wide the gulf between His command
And this lowly commanded thing,
You could say failure is built in.

I'm only walking on air in Elul,
But let Him send His lasting light
This year - and watch how high
This faltering dove can fly.

Summer's End

Summer ended weeks ago -
I could tell by the way
The sun one morning fell -
Like a slant of light
On a day in fall.

But heat sits heavy in September still -
Like a stubborn squatter
Refusing to move.

So I wait - for the clear high prospect
And the clean slate, for possibilities
Skipping like leaves down windy streets,
For the brisk step and earth's subtle shift
Towards a new light.


Winter is months away
And even fall is not yet here,
But the low road and the long view
Of the year are coming,
And I hold on and wait.

A Shabbos World

Across the setting sun
The cawing sound of a solitary bird,
Over a Shabbos, over a Shabbos world.
Hills and houses
Trees and sky -
Come from the west,
O Shabbos bride.

Listen to her footsteps
When day departs-
She envelops time - she fills all space -
She bends her head
Wearing a diadem of stars.

Listen - not far off
Or long away in the night -
The sound of voices,
The sound of songs,
The sound of the Levites' songs.

Across the setting sun
The flight of a solitary bird,
Over a Shabbos, over a Shabbos world.

The King's in the Field - Rosh Chodesh Elul

The King's
In the field today!
What good news!
I'll wear my best dress,
And put on my new white shoes.
I'll rush out to greet Him -
Try to be the first -
I've got something
Important to tell Him -
I'm so happy I could burst!
I'll tell Him
Not to go back to the Palace
Like He used to do -
I'll tell Him He has to stay with us,
'Cause He's our One and Only King,
And we're His one and only retinue!

The Mayflower Pilgrims - Modern-style

My ocean to cross -
My wilderness to face -
My plot of earth unyielding -
The enemy wields his weapon and waits,
The heavy toll my long cold winter takes.

But I struck down roots
In the measureless snow -
I survived the foe and the famine -
A fortress of faith was my inner defense -
I held up my soul to probe and examine.
How else defy the odds against
Unless I clung to my Rock in 'Plymouth'
And put my trust in Providence!

Self-Conquest

Another day of Battle, it's been -
Fierce and unrelieved -
I seek in sleep my rest to win -
From Struggle - a reprieve.

I wake while dark to night renewed -
Behold! the arc of sky within my view is mine!
By dint of conquest - my possession -
And the stars - the stars that glint
From their high stations - I've won them!
My prize for conquering nations.

Perfecting the Past

Bring up the best part
Of all your days -
The hour before dawn
When the sky's a deep blue field
And a handful of stars
Remains over from night -
When cloud-winds cool
The doorway stone,
And the slow turning
From pale to grey
Signals the first shy bird
To call up the light.

These are new days
You're sending me -
Wide-moving clouds pull up
The whole sky after them,
Opening memories llike desert flowers
Surprised by the rain.
(How did I get to be in Vermont again
Early morning in the country?)
How else know how happy I was then
If time and what You wrought,
Like strong winds sweeping the sky,
Had not cleared the past
And brought only the best part back to me.

Ragtag Soldier

A soldier of the Rebbe experiencing flagging spirits, draws an analogy from a renowned event in the American Revolution.

Ragtag soldier
Seeped of strength,
Trudging the last length
Of bitter cold defeats -
The march by night -
Impossible - long and slow.
Heaven's Historian records
Your bloodied footsteps in the snow.
Those that mock and those that doubt -
What matter their marshalled might -
One small action can turn the tide.
Leave off despair -
Ceaseless your sovereign leader
Rallies the Cause,
And in the thick of night - watch!
You will yet cross your Delaware.

When Our Yorktown

The Battle of Yorktown in Virginia was the decisive

end of America's long war of independence.


O Yorktown!
O decisive victory!

When the equivalent
In our incomparable history?
Where converge
The destined forces
On what momentous day,
Surround the beaten enemy
In victory's long delay?

And when appear
Under what bright sky
The unfailing beloved leader
Who led his troops
The long war's fray -
When that day?
O when that triumphant day!

Stars at Dawn

I thought I'd skip the dawn today
From sitting up late reading Frost -
But are stars a thing to toss away!
So up, my legs, no matter what the cost!

The Smell of the Future, 8 Sivan, 4:30a.m., Jerusalem

You'd think it was the country -
Night sky moving west
To make way for dawn -
Stars out clear -
That smell of fresh earth
From new-turned fields
Coming from some where
In the chill night air:-
Far off - a bird call -
As if he couldn't wait
For the morning's early song.

I may be wrong but -
Short of life -
I'd give everything I own
To have that hour
The world I wake to
All future days - all its days long.

A New Heaven and New Earth

It's known to snow in April
Back in the States,
But by May, lawn chairs
Are out on patios, hedges are full
And summer's only a block away.
But in our Jerusalem
A cold chill persists in May -
Winds bang the door, toss trees
And I sit near the heat even by day.
O last signs of winter mingled with spring,
We are leaping out of Egypt forever -
No more will summer's heat
The rose wilt and dry -
When pear-tree blossoms fall this year,
Let it be on a new earth,
And when the rose opens,
Let it open to a new sky.

The Night on Condition

The night I'll take
When it's serene
And lamps are lit at home.
When clear the stars
In crystal space
And footsteps in the shining streets
Send up the sound of song.
When voices learning late and long
Rejoice the listening walls,
And settles night
Like falling snow -
When all abroad the world is peace.

The Light of Nissan.

Shining High the Trees of Spring.

Shining high the trees of spring -

Leaf and branch of wood renewed.

The dove calls out - morning sings -

The lemon hangs full

'Gainst a blaze of blue.

Winds wash sunlight

Over streets at noon

And stir the figlets

On the ripening fig.

Whence the reigning peace?

Whence the light cast on stone -

Beautiful, unknown?

O Jerusalem -

Like a calm sailing in the dark,

Your small bark steadily gaining

Through rough seas,

Nears the distant shore.

Even now - the promised golden port

You can sight.

Ask - ask what I'd give

For the light.

Dance Through the Darkness

Since when the sun
And the dove sitting sentinel
On a morning sky
Seem unphenomenal?
Shout - my soul - for joy
At the great big leaf on the fig tree -
Sing every word you pray -
Take a step up and balance -
Then dance through the darkness
To His new day.

Shopping in the Celestial Mall

I'm going shopping
In the Celestial Mall -
I'm stepping out
To try on a new world.
The sky I have is bright and blue -
As skies go it will more than do.
But I badly need new streets
For the City meant to shine,
And I badly need a new bus line -
Guaranteed seats -
Music uplifting and refined -
Oh, I can't wait for that new bus line!
I want springtime all year round,
Timely rains for blessing
And some fleecy snow days tossed down.
I'm pointing my feet to the one-stop shop
For health, wealth, and peace unilateral -
I got my receipt - I'm all paid up -
Now please return my collateral!
Oh! I'm going shopping in the Celestial Mall,
I'm stepping out
To a brand new world!


Note on the word "collateral": The Rebbe cites Rashi who wrote that the first and second Temples were taken as collateral for the sins of the Jewish people. When we reach out to our fellow Jews with love to bring them closer to Yiddishkeit, the Rebbe says this causes the return of our collateral - the Third Beis HaMikdash.

The Light of the Fast of Teveth, 5769

A cold, cold day in January
And the bus long in coming -
The sky a white chill -
Blue at a distance the hills.
But the light looking south
On the morning road is different -
Beautiful - like a ray of the infinite
Touching far down on the earth.
If I took the path at the turning,
There where its early glow
Illumines the street sign,
Somehow I know
Past and present would merge
And I would live in the light
Of a boundless happiness forever.

Storm wind and rain -
Leaves blown from trees
Whirled high and scattered
In a vague white winter sky.
Heard were the winds
Like a low sound forming
From the throat of hills -

Then came a quiet -
And by morning
Soft descended the snow.

Stopped in a day
Life as we knew it!
A new world, a pure light
Met the eyes -

In such a wondrous
But surpassing way he will come -
Though foretold,
He will take us by surprise.

Sunlit cold winter morning -
No bluer cloudless sky than yours.
Leaf and branch
Shadowed on stone -
A sharp reflected reality.
Bracing cold your shining sun -
No day in all the year - not one -
With your vivid clarity.

Truth will wear a winter face
When suddenly it comes -
A light as bright
A light as clear
Never shone -
Answered all our questions why -
Embraced with joy
Like the sun in a winter sky.