I Lived Before The Poems Poem by Shalom Freedman

I LIVED BEFORE THE POEMS

I lived before the poems
Perhaps I will live after them
The poems are not all I am
They are not most of my life
But they are very much
Perhaps the best I have written
Perhaps the essence of I would say
Perhaps the most Beauty I have
If I have any-
The poems are more important to me now
Than any other writing
They are what I put my hope in
However vain it might be
I need the poems I love the poems
The writing of them gives me meaning and hope-
I lived before the poems
Perhaps I will live after them
Life is better with the poems
Than it would be without them
I hope to keep writing the poems for as long as I can
It would be a blessing to end
With a prayer which is a poem
Shema Yisrael-