Another lame Chanukah poem. Sorry folks, I'm having a rough week. Fortunately, my statcounter indicates that hardly anybody is reading these, so I don't have to feel bad about disappointing anyone but myself. Hope you enjoy it at least a little.
Maccabees or Miracle
By Batsheva 12/16/09
How is it possible to write
A poem for Chanukah
Without seeming trite?
Is there any way one
Can not rhyme
“Light” with “Night” and “Bright”
Each time?
I mean, what can there
Be left to say
About a two-thousand-plus-
Year-old holiday
That hasn’t already
Been said before
In hundreds of volumes
Of holiday lore?
Still, I feel that I should do it
(If only I can just get through it)
But on which aspect
Should I write?
How the Maccabees
Defeated the Seleucids’ might?
Or how one day’s oil
Burned for eight—
The miracle we celebrate?
Maccabees or miracle—
Which should be the focus?
Some argue for the victory
And not the hocus pocus
Others insist that war
Should not be celebrated
But The Eternal’s miracles
Are cause to be elated
Maccabees or miracle—
A Rabbinic debate of note
Almost as great as latkes
Or sufganiyot.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment