Earth Etude for Elul 23: Tandem

by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

Biking home on Orchard Street

With the wind behind me, and Jamaica Pond

Wrinkled and clear beyond the houses,

A peregrine falcon winged down

A feathered grace, gliding on my right.

For a breath, two, we flew side by side.

My grief, of late, has become more precise.

There are worlds

Beyond worlds, the eons will stretch

Over bedrock and magma, blue and green.

There is life and Life and God unending

No matter what we do, where we are.

So I cry for us, for here, for what we know and love

And for the winged, hooved, scaled, wriggling, tender and fierce

Creatures who love it too, and live it.

In tandem with the falcon

Another neighbor

Traveling this beloved and troubled home.

Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman is the Assistant Rabbi for Engagement at Temple Sinai of Brookline. She is a leader in the interfaith climate justice movement. For more information visit www.rabbishoshana.com and www.clergyclimateaction.org.