Each of the Haggadah’s four sons reveals
himself by his expressions,
all four questions are like seals
confirmed by their confessions.
The wise one reveals that he is wise
with services that he
performs on Passover, the highs
he gets from liberty.
The wicked one reveals he’s not
a good man, using reason
to justify opposing what
Jews do, supporting treason.
The simple one reveals that he’s
less simple than we think,
since he is as inclined to please
as all the wine we drink.
The son who asks no questions shows
an open mind he closes
to learning, since he thinks he knows
far more than he supposes.
Three sons are what they say, the fourth
what he does As we
stretch to all four sons our kind hand forth,
we hope all will agree,
that during fifty days we’re counting,
focused on the next
great festival on Sinai mountain,
where we received the text
providing answers to questions asked
by only three sons, while
one does not ask, from answers masked,
but hopefully will smile
when saying “cheese,” cheered by cheesecake,
once Omer days are counted
by Shavuot; for Sinai’s sake
we smile, Sinai remounted.
Gershon Hepner is a poet who has written over 25,000 poems on subjects ranging from music to literature, politics to Torah. He grew up in England and moved to Los Angeles in 1976. Using his varied interests and experiences, he has authored dozens of papers in medical and academic journals, and authored “Legal Friction: Law, Narrative, and Identity Politics in Biblical Israel.” He can be reached at gershonhepner@gmail.com.
