The Breath of All Life, a paraliturgical Nishmat Kol Ḥai for Shabbat morning by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=7050
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Date: 2013-06-21
Last Updated: 2024-08-21
Categories: Psuqei d'Zimrah/Zemirot l'Shabbat ul'Yom Tov
Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Breath, English poetry, English vernacular prayer, interbreathing, interconnectedness, paraliturgical nishmat kol ḥai, Prayers as poems, נשמת כל חי Nishmat kol ḥai
Excerpt: A prayer-poem inspired from the liturgical prayer, Nishmat. . . .
Content:
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English |
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Breath of our bodies
and harmattan of our ambitions
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hurricane of our angers
and chinook of our forgiveness
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tempest of our childbirths
and cold front of our silences
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articulated gasp of pain
and muffled sigh of pleasure
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inbreath of my housecat
and outbreath of every tree
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gust that reshapes coastlines
and tempest of our hearts
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wind of the physical world
and the realms of emanation beyond
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Breath of All Life, the breath
of all life blesses Your name.
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If every mouth joined right now
in breathing Your praises
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if every present thing on earth
stopped so we could laud You
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if we all shared the roaring voice
of lion and elephant and walrus,
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the heightened senses
of the mystic and the hunting owl
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if we could fly like the Concorde
looping your smoky name across the sky
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if we could discard differences: human,
animal, fire, stone, seed, snow
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even that cry of togetherness
would not be enough to thank You.
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Contributor: Rachel Barenblat
Co-authors:
Featured Image:
Title: trees – grateful365 026 by Heather Katsoulis (CC BY-SA)
Caption: "trees - grateful365 026" by Heather Katsoulis (CC BY-SA)
