9. This Father In Law's Day

I didn't know what blue was
or what it meant to be tangled up in it
so my mind made sense of the words and heard
Trying To Love You Blues
I recall this now as I listen
to the singer's son-in-law
asked by an interviewer
for a word about the man
he says, I'll tell you just this
he's great with the grand-children.

Maybe? (2010)

if a seed is held just

in your warm grasp

it will never thrive

it needs to be thrown

into the dark earth

to truly grow alive

Subway Ad (2005)

"Real People
Real Stories
Deborah Norville
Anchor"

But Deborah
Doesn't Look
Very Real
To Me

6. Good Night Keyboard

Israel is very much on my mind
I can't/shouldn't leave my mourning behind
The barbaric reality has shaken me out
Despite my usual quietness I have angry things to shout
And yet I believe G-d wants me to live
He wants me to connect, He wants me to give
He wants me to be dating, to be setting up friends
He wants me to move forward through whatever life sends
So I try to set people up every now and then
And to get out there myself- if not now when
Right now I have to leap in faith, though it may not seem deep
It's time, it's time, it's time- it's time to go to sleep.

5. GNAGB

Good night and G-d bless
Sometimes I write boldly
Sometimes softly, with "may"
Depending on how He moves me

Good night and G-d bless
I write with gratefulness
That G-d blessed me with the
Ability to hope He blesses you

Good night and G-d bless
I write again and again
Sometimes as a rough draft
Sometimes as a gentle wind

4. Mah She'Irah/Mah She'Hayah

The Rambam writes

that on the Seder night

we must speak of what happened 

and we must speak of what was

what happened happened

and what was was

what happened lives in us

the way it happened in us

and what was disappears

the actual fact was and left

and yet G-d says remember

the going out from Egypt

and the Rambam explains

know the fact that's gone

and know the live story

and so too with our life

our own life exoduses

what was was, now gone

then there's what happened

and happens- again, again

and yes, G-d says- remember

even if it's not what was

remember what happened.