On a Day Like Today

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Image of hands holding candles at vigil

Image from vigil in Pittsburgh courtesy of Governor Tom Wolf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are feeling the first
glint of shock that our
ancestors felt the day they
were expelled from Spain.

Now our restive hands
are sensing the first drops
of pelting rain that fell on
loved ones who boarded an
unspeakable train.

We remember those who wore
yellow stars and perhaps those
times are not so far away.

Maybe soon on a day like today
we will see crescent moons on
the sleeves of those who have
no place to pray.

Glance upwards at the angry
sky casting an ominous pall
over the frightened heads of
brown-skinned children who
are pleading: why?

The latest version of “it can’t
happen here” is no longer
news from a distant
shore; it’s here at our door.

My hope is that you and I will
awaken and be vigilant on
behalf of all that we hold to
be dear,

And my prayer is that our tired
eyes can see and our broken
hearts can hear.

__

Trained as a transpersonal psychotherapist and musician, Bruce Silverman  has been in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1984. He has been on the faculty of a number of institutions of higher learning, including Holy Names University, Naropa University, and Wisdom University, since its inception in 2005. He teaches World Drumming, Embodied Dream Work, Group Facilitation and Ritual Practice. He is the founder and director of The Orpheus Healing Arts Institute in Berkeley, California, and regularly presents his music and poetry at the services of both Chochmat Halev and The Torah of Awakening.  

1 thought on “On a Day Like Today”

  1. A beautiful poem of the kind of expressions we need so badly right now.
    I’m in a place where I feel the power and threat coming from desperate people fearing losing control over their lives and the future. This has forced so many into the embrace of the extremist cults of power and exclusion of others. Into the embrace of cruelty and hate and blind accusations and blaming the victims.
    What’s needed is more poetry and arts expressing these fears rather than violence and searching for dictators to “save” them.
    Thanks for your contribution to the healing.

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