By Harvey Shapiro
I am still on a rooftop in Brooklyn
on your holy day. The harbor is before me,
Governor’s Island, Verrazano Bridge
and the Narrows. I keep in my head
what Rabbi Nachman said about the world
being a narrow bridge and that the important thing
is not to be afraid. So on this day
I bless my mother and father, that they be
not fearful where they wander. And I
ask you to bless them and before you
close your Book of Life, your Sefer Hachayim,
remember that I always praised your world
and your splendor, and that my tongue
tried to say your name on Court Street in Brooklyn.
Take me safely through the Narrows to the sea.
Other People's Poems
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Psalm
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
The Bears Take Tea
By Antique Lady

sipping sasafras tea
'Neath the shade and shadows
of the old plum tree
"How many sugars?" "One lump or two?"
"Not too sweet, one lump will do."
Rasberry scones, to go with their tea
Silently I watch, wishing they'd included me
Papa's tea is hot... Mama bears is cold
Something familiar...of how this story goes
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Symbols
Whoever puts on a tallis when he was young he will never forget;
Taking it out of the soft velvet bag, opening the folded shawl,
Spreading it out, kissing the length of the neckband (embroidered
or trimmed in gold.) Then swinging it in a great swoop overhead
like a sky, a wedding canopy, a parachute. And then winding it
around his head as in hide-and-seek, wrapping
his whole body in it, close and slow, snuggling into it like the cocoon
of a butterfly, then opening would-be wings to fly.
And why is the tallis striped and not checkered black-and-white
like a chessboard? Because squares are finite and hopeless.
Stripes come from infinity and to infinity they go
like airport runways where angels land and take off.
Whoever has put on a tallis will never forget.
When he comes out of a swimming pool or the sea,
he wraps himself in a large towel, spreads it out again
over his head, and again snuggles into it close and slow,
still shivering a little, and he laughs and blesses.
-- Yehuda Amichai
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Mindful
By Mary Oliver
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
In My Room
By Brian Wilson
There's a world where I can go and tell my secrets to
In this world I lock out all my worries and my fears:
Do my dreaming and my scheming
Lie awake and pray
Do my crying and my sighing
Laugh at yesterday
Now it's dark and I'm alone but I won't be afraid
In my room.
Monday, June 23, 2025
Dirge Without Music
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52773/dirge-without-music