Hod, As The Seasons Shape Us

Dear Friends,

Here is a poem I wrote years ago when I spent a month of the Omer in the red rock canyons of Southern Utah. I have shared this poem before and I felt it calling again as we enter the week of Hod this year. It’s been a quite a while since I have been in those desert sanctuaries and their gifts are still alive in me, continuing to shape my life.

May we care well for the wild places, honoring and protecting them.

May we bow to them as teachers and guides.

High desert canyons,

Red walls reaching upward,

Streaks of yellow sandstone and navaho white.

Massive rock

Formed and reformed by wind and water,

By summer’s heat,

And winter’s cold.

These mighty canyons

Are sculpted,

Shaped,

Made beautiful

By all that has been worn away.

By all that has been lost.

Walking among them, one would be forgiven

For assuming these giants are forever.

But after leaning against a wall,

Or seeking shelter in a crevice

One comes away with the red dust

Of their passing.

Everything that is, becomes something else.

May our hearts be strong and filled with courage

As the seasons pass and leave us

Raw and exposed,

And perhaps even more beautiful

For all that has been worn away,

For all that has been lost.

Sending love to all as the Omer continues to guide us through these times.

Rabbi Yael