Your mind has gone a-journeying, <br />Your heart follows. <br />I stood here with my arms upraised, <br />V for Victory, <br />Holding above us worlds and years, <br />Our woven canopy. <br />It shielded us from blinding light, <br />The sun, the storms. <br /> The moon. <br />Each day you took it in your arms <br />And closed your eyes and kissed its fringe <br />And spoke Shema, oh God. <br /> But now you've gone a-journeying <br />And when you left, a fringe <br />Caught in the door and tore, <br />And I am bereft a-standing here, <br />Unravelling. <br />That canopy's my heart, <br />The white and blue tallit <br />That now is rent, fraying, <br />Unreparable. <br />The sun dries up my thoughts, <br />The rain falls through and <br />Flows down my face, <br />Unbearable. <br />My arms are low now, <br />Like my heart. <br />Alone I hold it still... <br />Although it will not float <br />Or save me in the flood. <br />At most it is a sinking hope, <br />A tattered flag. <br /> <br />LRH <br />In memoriam <br />1.20.05<br /><br />Linda Hepner<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-tattered-tallit/
