I Wanted To Write The Most Beautiful Poem
I wanted to write the most beautiful poem
The one beyond any music I had known-
The one which would reveal the changes
in yellows and greens
spring sunlight whispered to the trees
I wanted to write the most beautiful poem
The one which would tell the stories of all those I have loved and cared for-
I wanted to write the most beautiful poem
As a poem of Kindness-
I wanted to write the most beautiful poem
Of sublime and overpowering distance
Of stars when stars were dreams -
I wanted to write the most beautiful poem-
But I knew many other poems already written
Would always be far more beautiful than mine-
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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It Is Time For The Crying And Complaining To End
It is time for the crying and complaining to end
I have been whining long enough-
Courage is in order now -
It is time for me to steel myself with imperatives-
Not to let disappointment and discouragement dominate my thought
Not to give in to long- term forecasts of inevitable human doom
Not to let thoughts of our insignificance play endlessly in mind
Not to lie down and weep.
Rather to show the world a brave face
To encourage wherever one goes
To present oneself as strong in conviction
To take the hardest pains and strive with dignity
To love and give hope and happiness to others
To be always in a kind of inner joy despite everything
To be ready to fight if necessary
And to fight when necessary
To be kind and strong
And make others love life more
To have courage-
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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Life Has Endless Small Unhappinesses
Life has endless small Unhappinesses
We meet them everyday-
A piece of bad news about a friend-
An errand we have failed at
And must try to do again-
A mood we did not expect to be the victim of-
A sinking coldness suddenly come as the sun disappears-
Life has endless small unhappinesses
Which we try to contend with
And which often are forgotten
Or cast into unimportance
By greater sorrows –
Life is not easy when it hurts-
And it is not easy when one does not know the way out
And it is not easy when you are being asked to give what you know you do not have -
Life is not easy
When it forces you to try and survive
By doing work you hate
And when you are criticized and abused
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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A Poem Of The Sea Is For Me Today in Tel Aviv Chol Ha- Moed Pesach 5762
THE POEM OF THE SEA IS FOR ME TODAY IN TEL AVIV CHOL HAMOED PESACH 5762
The poem of the sea is for me today
In Tel Aviv Chol Ha- Moed Pesach 5762
The poem of longing and beauty
It is the poem of light
Of distance
It is the poem of waves unceasing
And colors dreaming their changes faster than they can be named-
The poem of the sea is for me
On this day
A poem of return and happiness
A poem of being with my family-
It is too a poem of remembrance-
How thirty- five years ago just beginning
I came to the same sea alone
And wondered how
If I would ever have a family of my own -
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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Where Am I Now In This World Of 'Only Alone
WHERE AM I NOW IN THIS WORLD OF ‘ONLY ALONE’?
Where am I now in this world of ‘only alone’?
I am not ‘only alone’ now
It has been a long time
Since I knew the real loneliness the devastating loneliness the loneliness of doubting the reality and value of my own existence-
A long time since I had to hesitate before each and every small decision
Before time of completely lost confidence in myself
Before the time of terrible fear of losing myself completely-
Yet when I last week at the fresh grave of a good acquaintance
Suddenly I sensed again the ultimate ‘only alone’
And feared that one day not so long from now
All the love in the world
And all the help of others
And all the kindness and caring
Will not prevent
The final ‘only alone’
The one the non- believer knows
Goes on ‘forever’
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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The Poem Then At The End Of The End
THIS POEM THEN AT THE END OF THE END
This poem then at the end of the end
When there are no more friends
And nothing is left to say
But only lonely I go my way
Because no one goes with us when we die
And no one holds our hand against the worms of the sky
And no one no one knows where our soul sighs
And whether God says hi or goodbye
And why oh why oh why do we die
But here in fear those we leave behind
Those who love and know what we at our best were
We make them cry when we die
And all we wish to stop and make never to be
We cannot
Because no one tells us how to forever not die
No one can
Alone alone alone to our end then
Alone alone alone to never be anymore here
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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For My Sister On Her Sixty- Fifth Birthday
FOR MY SISTER ON HER SIXTY- FIFTH BIRTHDAY
Where have the years gone?
My sister -
The most beautiful the kindest little girl on First Street Troy New York
Is sixty-five years old today-
Where have the years gone?
How can I ever thank her
For the devotion with which she cared for my parents
In those most difficult last years?
How can I ever say how much her being the only witness
Left with me of that world then
Means to me?
How can I say how happy I am for her
That she has raised with her husband
Four loving and caring daughters
That she made quite late in life
A name and career for herself?
Above all that she is still the good caring person
Who with her mother’s practicality
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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How Will It End For All Of Us?
IN MY OLD AGE/ MY HAPPINESS
In my old age
My happiness
Suddenly
Overwhelms me.
Why?
The light towards twilight?
The quiet?
The thought of my children
Who love and honor their father?
A peace in the cool air?
Just being here all the years
In Yerushalayim?
A quiet gratitude to God
The light and the peace and the calm?
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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I Am Grateful For The Parents I Had And Have
I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE PARENTS I HAD AND HAVE
I am grateful for the parents I had and have
They are still with me
I miss them
Sometimes they appear in my dreams
When I am walking I think of them
I see them at various ages of their lives
My father young tall strong
My mother smiling kind warm in strong middle age
My father bent on his way to the senior citizens
My mother in a wheelchair no longer even half herself
Or in the faded pictures of them in their youth
As I never saw them in life
I think of them and miss them
Their dreams their loves are in me
Yesterday I was with a great – grandchild of theirs
Who they never have seen or will see
How happy that smiling calm child would have made them
Life is difficult and long and filled with loss and blessing
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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Life Is Difficult
Life is difficult-
Surprises are not always what we hoped they would be-
People misunderstand us-
We imagine we are kind
And they understand us differently-
Some problems never get solved
Some remain lingering for years-
There are cruel people in the world
Stupid ones also-
The fair do not always get the prize
The pushers push push push the good guys aside-
We see the Evil grinning and we cannot touch them-
All kinds of Hopes we have are disappointed-
Rejection is the Fate of everyone at one time or another
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poem by Shalom Freedman
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