grapes:

they’ll tell you that you weigh less than the heartbeat growing inside you

that you mean less than the eventuality of what you were grown for

and if you’re growing another of you, they’ll tell them eventually, too

you can learn not to listen, but they will be there with fables and grapes

and you’ll weigh less than the heartbeat growing inside you, in spite of them

struggle.

you were not frightened because of the shot hand

or height meaning an end; stray fire

you were not frightened because death came upon you

and gazed from many eyes into your shelter

 

you saw that we carried on, and you were frightened

how we rearranged our lives, as we had been seasoned

around your loss, by your own hand

 

you saw that we mourned you as individuals but not as a collective

and you were frightened.

 

bread as rare as peace, and still we carried on

 

you saw that life went on where death ended, and death began

you saw we carried on, and you were frightened

you saw that life could not be tamed, though life be taken

you feared it given, again and again, from inside of us

you saw we carried on, and you carried on, taking

 

and you were frightened, knowing

life could be taken

and given again, without your knowing, beyond your shot hand,

beyond your field, your shelter, many eyes, stray fire

the giving could not be broken, no

 

nor when it was over, could you force it forward,

upward, from your shelter

Because I love, I love for the World only, and not for myself.

Because I love, I forget to remember myself.

Because I love, I love for the World, completely.

Because I love, I know myself.

twenty-four.

fireworks.

not rockets, nor bombs. let peace

be my witness, let peace

be my only blindness.

light.

yerushaláyim

if you search for hate, you will find it.

love will help you rebury it.