Patience Poem by gershon hepner

No wider that the rivers you
can cross, and often leaving you so high
and dry while you are wading through
its wadi, saying you rely
on it because you have no choice,
it is the subject of ovations
when you succeed, and can rejoice.
But when it fails, what use is patience?

Inspired by a poem by Kay Ryan:

Patience, by Kay Ryan

Patience is
wider than one
once envisioned,
with ribbons
of rivers
and distant
ranges and
tasks undertaken
and finished
with modest
relish by
natives in their
native dress.
Who would
have guessed
it possible
that waiting
is sustainable—
a place with
its own harvests.
Or that in
time's fullness
the diamonds
of patience
couldn't be
distinguished
from the genuine
in brilliance
or hardness.

11/9/08