Righteousness Ought Not Be for One's Self

September 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which begins on the evening of September 20. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about righteousness and self-righteousness.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Righteousness ought not be for one’s self.

One’s righteousness must serve to save one’s soul.

Self-righteousness makes righteousness the goal,

Having failed to cross that inner gulf,

Heart self-satisfied to heart of shame,

And found faith waiting on the distant shore.

So must one be less to compass more,

Having held one’s goodness to the flame

And watched it turn to ashes instantly.

Nor can one be righteous on one’s own,

As one finds one’s unassuming home

Hard by the heart of one’s community.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/right3.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

September 18: Righteousness Ought Not Be for One’s Self