(x = space)

x

x

Drafting into a Welcome for Rosh Hashanah

x

It has

Sundowned into

Tishrei

Rosh Hashanah

x

Now into

A count of five thousand

Seven hundred

Eighty-four

x

The new year

Turns the calendar

Adding one

To five millennia

(a few centuries

away

from six)

Together

As a people

x

We have liturgy

Reading

Hearing

We have the word of God

Visit

And then send us on our way

x

Our way together

Responding to the invitation

Of another year

Of seasons

For dancing

Mourning

All that is required

x

There are lessons

As we need them

x

A thousand died on Maui

Ten thousand in Libya

More than

Less than

A counting for

A necessary tally

As with those who fell in battle

Tallied in the texts

Of old

x

The wars waged with nature

And too often

With each other

x

And yet how many born

How many here

Grown into this family

Of long life

Together

x

And each one matters

Fallen

Risen

Breathing

Or having given up on breath

For what is next

x

Each one matters

x

Maybe

There are other

Older

But we are

A five-thousand (going on six)

Years-old people

Plus one new day

x

Ancient and new

We are

We work

We play

We pause to rest

We go again

x

(So)

Remember who we were

Remember who we are

This year of blessing

As we have it

Inside which

We’ll part

And come together

As required

Meaning it as celebration

Too

x

Sundown into sunrise

Go our days

Here and now

For we are here

We’re now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Veronika Diegel on Unsplash

x