Sometimes I am glad to retreat from the world
Sometimes I can’t bear my longing for it
Sometimes I am certain I’ve grown wiser
Sometimes I know I know less than ever
Sometimes I think I could do this forever
Sometimes I think I can’t last another minute
Sometimes I wonder which is real
This life or the one I had before?
I live with other accidental monks
We study the holy books of love & distance:
Some days, love across distances
Some days, the distances inside love
We never meant to be monks, my love
But here we are
Not the first to find ourselves
Inside a sudden solitude
Walking these stone corridors
Navigating this open sea
Praying to learn the simplest
And most difficult lesson
How to move through the days
With grace.
Alicia Jo Rabins is a writer, musician and Torah teacher. Her most recent book of poetry is “Fruit Geode” (Augury Books, 2018).
