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The Lower Fear
by Dan KastenI listen as a cello plays deeply and soulfully
a harp joins in offering distant yet gentle compassion
in this moment lives remembrance and sorrow
stones for those who passed with a people’s dignity
a blank canvas to the lone violinist
each note a tear, a personal history
of cloth stars sewn to ripped garments
pictures of lives enjoying picnics before the lower fear
look skyward for any outward signs of Spring
for butterflies, for insight into God’s master plan
purposefully placed one octave too high for us
to reach without requisite pain
at which time I ask myself, is there ever
a bad time to listen to Kol Nidre.
04/12/2009 Author's Note: Written for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), April 21st. For more poems on this subject, stop by Rick Lupert's PoetrySuperHighway.com on the day.
Posted on 04/12/2009
Copyright © 2025 Dan Kasten
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Gabriel Ricard on 04/12/09 at 08:58 PM I really, really enjoyed this. |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 04/14/09 at 07:08 PM The years of the "cloth-starred" cannot be forgotten...you are probably familiar with this quote from the HC Museum, "Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander." Great write, Dan.
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| Posted by Susan Q Tomas on 09/17/09 at 05:46 AM Forget my name. |
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