[Newspoetry] Sayings of Our Fathers

[DL Emerick]

My children listen to me with half a heart,

As if their souls could be divided just so.

 

Is it the good that listens, to hear and obey,

Or evil yetser seeking to distort the heard?

 

Reb El once said: "The good is not additive,

Not always; maybe never - but alternative."

 

"Why is this so" said an old child of Torah?

 

"Once, I went to my refrigerator, to nosh,

And filled a bowl with a vanilla ice cream.

Out of memory, I reached down to a shelf,

And pulled out a familiarly shaped bottle.

I squeezed it out, generously, in hunger.

I plied my spoon and took a great bite.

I spat out what I had taken in my mouth.

The bottle I had used was hot Taco sauce,

Not a similar, equally good Butterscotch."

 

Each good has to it complementary goods;

But even so, not all goods are harmonious,

Some goods, added to others, make a mess.

 

Reb El then paused and said, searchingly,

"If two goods do not make a greater good,

How much more certain can we be that

Two evils ever yet make a greater evil?"

 

Perhaps, in memory, for Edmond Jabes.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/newspoetry/attachments/20070131/a688b8bf/attachment.html