Poem: Birthday of the World – A psalm for Rosh Hashanah

Today is the birthday of the world.

But the world knows nothing

of this invention.

The world just keeps moving about itself,

buzzing and humming, exulting and keening,

birthing and being born,

while the mind keeps on its own way—

form-craving, metaphor-making,

over and over, giving birth and being born.

Reprinted with permission from “The Days Between: Blessings, Poems, and Directions of the Heart for the Jewish High Holiday Season” (Brandeis University Press, 2014).

Marcia Falk is a poet, scholar and translator from Hebrew and Yiddish. Her books include “The Book of Blessings,” a re-creation of prayer from an inclusive, nonhierarchical perspective, and “The Song of Songs: Love Lyrics From the Bible.)