It isn\u2019t restricted to nighttime in garbage-strewn<\/p>\n
Alleyways of graffiti-sprayed poetry when darkness<\/p>\n
Opens its foaming mouth and lets loose with a<\/p>\n
Howling curse fumes of rancid breath, morgue-<\/p>\n
Gray in both color and countenance \u2013<\/p>\n
No, darkness is neither susceptible nor<\/p>\n
Exclusive to time and space:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have known men to live in sunlight and think in coal<\/p>\n
Just as I\u2019ve known others to think lightheaded and feel<\/p>\n
Dark-hearted \u2013<\/p>\n
No, darkness needs not a dark canvas on which<\/p>\n
To paint its sordid art \u2013<\/p>\n
In fact, the whiter the parchment, the blacker the ink<\/p>\n
Seems to be.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A person can be in a dark place\u2026<\/p>\n
But it is much worse when a dark place is in<\/p>\n
A person \u2013<\/p>\n
Then, no matter how bright the future<\/p>\n
May seem or how illuminating the sun<\/p>\n
May be, no matter how far away he goes<\/p>\n
Or how still she stands, that darkness will<\/p>\n
Eat away like a famished parasite until even<\/p>\n
The last drop, the last ounce of childhood<\/p>\n
Lies all shriveled up in the fatal position.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When you kindle the lamps
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Toward the face of the Menorah
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Shall the seven lamps cast light<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(O, but if it be true that darkness can live inside man<\/p>\n
How much truer is it with light?)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When you kindle the lamps\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Arise o flame, flicker and dance<\/p>\n
To a heart-beat, a soul rhythm<\/p>\n
In time with the world and its<\/p>\n
Beings, shooting forth rays of<\/p>\n
Light through and throughout<\/p>\n
Turning a shadow of doubt into<\/p>\n
A glimmer of hope\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It takes merely one candle to<\/p>\n
Illuminate an entire cellar:<\/p>\n
One person, one shining soul<\/p>\n
To illuminate an entire universe<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For are we not flickering flames,<\/p>\n
Light on our feet, lighter yet in our hearts,<\/p>\n
Dancing the world into lightness?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But, of course, how?<\/p>\n
What gives us the right to burn?<\/p>\n
And make others burn?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Toward the face of the Menorah\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What is darkness if not fragmentation?<\/p>\n
And what is light if not unity?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The source, the face of the Menorah,<\/p>\n
Cast of unity, one solid piece of pure gold,<\/p>\n
Peace on its face, tranquility on its lips,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Its light raised upward and raising others,<\/p>\n
Its luminance shining forth, not only in its soul,<\/p>\n
Not exclusive to its Holy Temple, but through<\/p>\n
Its windows, windows facing out to the simple<\/p>\n
World beyond, illuminating the bleak earth\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shall the seven lamps cast light\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But some can think that unity too<\/p>\n
Is exclusive to one time and space,<\/p>\n
That light only belongs in certain<\/p>\n
Communities or among specific<\/p>\n
Scholars and saints\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some would be wrong:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A candle may be an individual soul,<\/p>\n
But a candelabra, a Menorah, is a people,<\/p>\n
A nation of many souls, many candles shining<\/p>\n
And illuminating, glimmers of more than hope \u2013<\/p>\n
Glimmers of purpose, of passion<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It may be in a dark world in which we live \u2013<\/p>\n
But it is a bright light which lives in us\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All the individual branches are cast of the same solid piece of gold \u2013<\/p>\n
Let us face it, the face of the Menorah, and may we<\/p>\n
Raise the light!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mendel Jacobson is a writer, poet and journalist living in Brooklyn. His weekly poetry can be seen at jakeyology.blogspot.com<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It isn\u2019t restricted to nighttime in garbage-strewn Alleyways of graffiti-sprayed poetry when darkness Opens its foaming mouth and lets loose with a Howling curse fumes of rancid breath, morgue- Gray in both color and countenance \u2013 No, darkness is neither susceptible nor Exclusive to time and space: I have known men to live in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":43652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-media"],"yoast_head":"\n