Sh’iva - Louis Faber

I am sitting Sh’iva
for a man I never knew
discharging my filial duties
according to the ancient law,
the seventh day of reflection
on an empty mirror in
a darkened room, the door
creaking on its rusted hinges.
It will someday be my time
though I still have not been
in the fields of the seven species
to bend in the harvest, and can
only envision the sweetness
of the pomegranate, the wine
of the grape running off my chin.
God rested on the seventh day,
yet I dread to rest, lest
I never stir, preferring
to be a grain of sand
cast about on the khamsin
than to be trod under
the feet of war.

Originally published by Onionhead Literary Quarterly 1995

Louis Faber is a poet and blogger.  His work has appeared in Cantos, Alchemy Spoon, New Feathers Anthology, Dreich (Scotland), Prosetrics,  Erothanatos (Greece), Defenestration, Atlanta Review,  Glimpse, Rattle, Cold Mountain Review, Eureka Literary Magazine, Borderlands: the Texas Poetry Review, Midnight Mind, Pearl, Midstream, European Judaism, The South Carolina Review and Worcester Review, among many others, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A book of poetry, The Right to Depart, was published by Plain View Press.  He can be found at https://anoldwriter.com.