My backyard is home to several citrus trees,
one of which is a tangerine;
Dancy or Fairchild variety
most likely,
but like the pound doggie I’ve just adopted
it can’t tell me its origins.
The fruit is exquisitely ripe just now.
I have just picked two of these
beautiful orange orbs
sundrenched, warm to the touch
warm to the tongue
easy to peel
perfect slices of sweetness
perfect reflections of the perfection
of Creation.
Oh my, to live in a world where we can discover
grape seeds 6,100 years old.
Where we know with certainty that these grape seeds
are 6,100 years old.
To know that these seeds were part of the ancient
process of fermentation which produced wine
sacred wine.
To understand that wine was actually being produced
at least 1,300 years prior to the 6,100 year find,
to know that humans were altering their consciousness
7,400 years ago, and of course much much longer,
with grapes, with love, laughter, dance, song, music.
And the real miracle… these 6,100 year old seeds will be
planted in today’s soil; will possibly sprout, grow, thrive
to produce grapes which we will make into wine
sacred wine.
An antidote to despair and hopelessness
exists in the magnificent evidence of
G-d’s exquisite creation, which
always appears in the sky
as a setting sun
plain or brilliant, just its fact
evidences beauty
unsettled, vibrantly colored clouds
all shades of white, pink, orange, gray,
all manner of shapes, streaks, variation, forms
birds about to take flight, birds in flight
the arch of wing, the grace of intuitive motion
the eternal gloss of our moon
her daily perceptible changes
stars in or out of our mind created
formations, designations, constellations
the rainbow’s glowing gay colors
now with my newly forming Jewish mind
showing Adonai’s covenant with Noah,
with all humans
and the too infrequent shooting star
which always always leaves a trail of
awe and glee in hearts fortunate enough
to look.