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.