Shalom Freedman Poems

A POEM SHOULD NOT BE WRITTEN-WHEN ONE IS WAITING FOR A BUS

A poem should not be written
When one is waiting for a bus
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SO MANY DAYS HAVE COME AND GONE

So many days have come and gone
So many years-
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A New Year should begin with new hope-
Beginning again-
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LIFE IS UNCERTAIN
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I MAY WELL BE A MEDIOCRITY


I may well be a mediocrity
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THE POEMS BECAME THE STORY OF MY INNER LIFE

The poems became the story of my inner life-
A series of confessions-
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I don’t know why this sadness is me,
And why depression has suddenly come -
It seems as if I am empty alone
And nowhere and nothing knows
Just what I was.
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When the dead whisper to the living
That they can’t go home again
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I WALKED LAST NIGHT IN A DISTRICT I LIVED IN FOR ALMOST TWENTY YEARS

I walked last night in a district I lived in for almost twenty years
I came back after being away for a time
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I want to thank God
For so much goodness in my life-
But are words enough?
Isn’t the true way to thank God
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