Year After Year, You Promise to Atone

September 19, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is good and evil in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on September 18.

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

A poem for Yom Kippur about an inability to recognize how deeply one is implicated in the evil of one’s world:

Year after year, you promise to atone.

Often, yes, you actually mean it.

Maybe you remember life's on loan,

Knowing you're expected to redeem it.

Into prayers you pour your willing heart,

Perhaps at times unsure of what you've done,

Perhaps at times unsure of where to start,

Uncovering what look like sins, though none

Requires much atonement on your part.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yearaf.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Good and Evil

9/17: Cynicism Comes from Self-Disgust

9/18: You Wrap Your Mind Around the Consequence

9/19: Year After Year, You Promise to Atone