They Labor Life

-Michal Mahgerefteh

December 15, 2010

words each letter embroidered in gold

prolong the musicality of internal rhythms

in an instant intimacy they cast the way

without a sense of vacancy into the labor of life

turn the whirl of shattered pieces

giving them legacy and love in between

words do not wither like grass

look for scraps of food like exiles

nor thirst a drink like a parched land

words   the last ember   transformed a branch

to assemble the Twelve Tribes and sowed seeds

from which The Three Trees grew stronger

as inscribed on the Tablets at the foothills of Sinai

                      a Covenant and a Promised Land

Michal Mahgerefteh is an award-winning poet and artist. She is Editor and Publisher of Poetica Magazine, Reflections of Jewish Thought. Her debut poetry collection, In My Bustan, was released in late 2009, and her second book, Field of Harps, a collection of poems and drawings, is scheduled to be released January  2011. Michal is currently working on a contemporary acrylic paintings centered on the letter Shin, “Shin: The Three Pillars.”