I hope I will become becalmed
on Yom Kippur, and not be harmed
by all the mishaps that transpired
last year, which recently retired,
provided with its annual break.
I still am shaking, earthly quake,
caused by a spiritual fear
of darkness that seemed to draw near,
but now apparently recedes
invisibly, with light that leads
to peaceful shores, which safely will
provide for me protection till
I catch my breath, blown by the winds
that sweep away my blues like sins,
and expiate them, like Yom Kippur,
enabing me to sail — a skipper
who stood upon a burning deck
God renovated, I a wreck,
survivor of tempestuous gales,
whose verse and hiddushim are sails
my spirit has inflated, gusting
with hope in God, in whom I’m trusting,
not as my shelter but my ship
who’ll take me to my readership.
becoming, after I have heard ne’ilah,
time’s helper and my holy healer.
The shofar of the jubilee
will blow and make me bravely free,
by words of Kol Nidrei enlightened,
while shadows of dread death are whitened,
due to repentance I’ve been pleading,
while all dark shadows are receding,
all trace of trespasses removed,
for sinning no more now reproved,
my sins reversed by my regret
of conduct that was incorrect,
receiving the exciting news
that God again will save most Jews.
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.
