Shard

-Ken Bresler

א

When the supernal vessel blew apart,

sending shards skittering through the world

like skipping stones on water,

one came to rest under my stove .

A spark, brighter than the pilot light,

stuck to the shard, like syrup on a breakfast plate.

Later, a ball of dust and hair grew on one side of the shard

and a red toy sports car rolled to a stop on the other side.

I was seeking hametz when I found the warm shard

with a spot of white light.

The local temple collects canned goods

and the town dump collects paper and No. 7 plastic,

but who collects the shards?

I didn’t know and the internet couldn’t tell me.

The spark was bright and kept my babies awake.

I posted messages on-line and made inquiries,

and returned the shard under the stove and waited,

but no one responded.

ב

When my babies were first conceived,

an angel placed above their heads

a lamp that illuminated one end of the universe to the other.

The angel taught them the entire Torah

and seventy languages,

and showed them every spot where their feet would tread

and their heads would rest,

then left them.

When it came time for them to enter this world,

they could not be born with perfect knowledge.

So the angel returned to fillip them above their upper lips,

marking them with a deep groove,

retracting their knowledge,

and sending them out to regain a portion of it.

The angel tapped hard,

and gave you a deeper groove than others,

I told them in my conceit,

as I rocked them and ran my finger there.

He had a lot to take away

and much of God’s love to impart.

ג

The angel came to tap me twice.

Once before I was born,

he gave me the task of recovering

my portion of knowledge.

Later in my life, he told me to put my babies down

and tapped me again hard under my nose.

My life shattered and he said,

Collect your shards.

Ken Bresler lives in Newton, Mass., where he was a columnist for the local weekly.  His prose has appeared in many print and electronic publications, including The Jewish Advocate (Boston), The Washington Jewish Week, Chicago Jewish News, JewishFamily.com, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Miami Herald, The National Law Journal, and The American Bar Association Journal.  His poetry has appeared in Mainstream.