Posts Tagged ‘comfort’

 

Tears, Too Close: A Prayer of Consolation

Posted on: August 18th, 2019 by Alden

A prayer of consolation, weaving in lines from each of the seven weeks of Haftarot of consolation from Isaiah which began the past Shabbat Nachamu. Use this prayer on Tisha B’Av, Shabbat Nachamu, and all of the seven Shabbatot of consolation. This piece appears in This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer from CCAR Press. For Rosh Chodesh Av, consider using “Hallel in a Minor Key.”

Tears, Too Close: A Prayer of Consolation
These tears are too close to my eyes
Ready to burst forth
For the sorrow that surrounds us.

These tears are too close to my heart
Ready to burst forth
For the pain that surrounds us.

These tears are too close to my soul
Ready to burst forth
For the heartbreak that surrounds us.

Comfort, oh comfort My people, says your God. (Isaiah 40:1)
For G-d will comfort Zion. (Isaiah 50:3)
נחמו נחמו עמי יאמר אלהיכם
כי־נחם ה’ ציון
Nachamu, nachamu ami, yomar Eloheichem,
Ki nicham Adonai Tzion.

Well of compassion,
Comfort of generations,
Let us cry together
For all that has been lost,
For all that might have been.

It is I, it is I who comforts you, (Isaiah 51:12)
And great shall be your children’s peace. (Isaiah 54:13)
אנכי אנכי הוא מנחמכם
ורב שלום בניך
Anochi anochi hu m’nachemchem
V’rav shalom baniyich.

Yearning,
Still yearning,
For solace and consolation,
Yearning,
Still yearning,
With hope and faith,
Yearning,
Still yearning,
For healing to flow more freely
Than these ripened tears.

Arise, shine, for your light has dawned, (Isaiah 60:1)
For mountains may move and hills be shaken
But My kindness shall not be removed from you. (Isaiah 54:10)
And the angel of G-d delivered them,
In love and mercy G-d redeemed them. (Isaiah 63:9)
קומי אורי כי בא אורך
כי ההרים ימושו והגבעות תמוטנה
וחסדי מאתך לא־ימוש
ומלאך פניו הושיעם
באהבתו ובחמלתו הוא גאלם
Kumi or’i ki va orech
Ki heharim yamushu v’hagvaot t’mutenah
V’chasdei m’eitecha lo yamush.
U’malach panav hoshei’am,
B’ahavto u’vchemlato hu g’alam.

© 2021 CCAR Press from This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer

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Blessings Now a River: A Meditation on Death

Posted on: October 25th, 2015 by Alden

This is a difficult meditation on facing death. It’s blunt yet loving in its message, but not necessarily for someone who’s suffered a recent loss. Then again, as stark as it is in declaring the finality of death, the message is also one of consolation and love, comfort and hope.

Blessings Now a River
And one day,
You will be gone.
Simple as that.
Gone.
A blank space,
The flow of life filling the spot
Where you once were.

Or could it be
That the love once held within you
Will finally be free?
That your old container,
Now broken,
Will no longer bind you?
That your blessings now a river
Will flow freely?
That your sacred spirit
Will fill the universe?

And on that day,
You will be here.
More here than ever.
Simple as that.
Here unbounded,
As unimaginable as infinity,
As radiant as light,
A holy space most present
In this sacred place,
Here where hearts dwell.

© 2015 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here’s a link to my other prayers and meditations on death and mourning.

Tweetable! Click here to tweet this: “Blessings Now a River,” a moving new meditation on death from @ToBendLight. https://tobendlight.com/?p=13451

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