Accidental Monks

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).