March 30, 2018
Dear Subscriber:
Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of
view. The twin themes for this week are Passover and Easter, which this year
are celebrated at the same time. The first night of Passover is the evening of
Good Friday, March 30, and Easter Sunday is April 1.
Today’s poem is a Passover poem about a Jew’s ambivalent
urge to live in Israel.
I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
Yours,
Nick Gordon
Why do I remain in exile?
I say, "Next
year in Jerusalem!"*
Seders come and
Seders go.
I feel the pull but
not the pain.
I say, "Next
year in Jerusalem!"
I do not mean it,
not for real.
I feel the pull but
not the pain.
My anguish must be
self-imposed.
I do not mean it,
not for real.
I mean it in my
Jewish bones.
My anguish must be
self-imposed.
I lie becalmed, and
wait, and wonder.
I mean it in my
Jewish bones.
Seders come and
Seders go.
I lie becalmed, and
wait, and wonder:
Why do I remain in
exile?
*The traditional cry at the end of every Seder.
© by Nicholas Gordon
Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I
chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/whydoi.html.
For more Easter poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html
. For more Passover poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/passoverpoems.html
.
This week’s theme: Easter and Passover
March 26: Enter Now the King, All but Insane
March 27: Passion Is the Wine, and Love, the Glass
March 28: Easter Is a Time of Love
March 29: Enduring Does Not Lead to Happiness
March 30: Why Do I Remain in Exile
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