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.