Ex Nihilo Poem by gershon hepner

Pointing out the absent star,
I see the depths of great abysses
and try to reach you from afar
with poems colder than your kisses
yours is a radiance that shines down
upon my face to make it glow,
like blessings of a priest’s divining,
creating me ex nihilo.

Inspired by a poem by Zbigniew Herbert, “Chord”:

Birds leave behind
shadows in a nest

so leave your lamp
instrument and book

let us go to a hill
where air grows

I will point out
the absent star

tender rootlets
buried by turf

springs of cloud
rising unsullied

a wind lends its mouth
so that we might sing

we’ll knit our brow
we won’t say a word

clouds have haloes
just like the saints

we have black pebbles
where eyes should be

a good memory cures
the scar a loss leaves

radiance may descend
down our bent backs

verily verily I say unto you
great is the abyss
between us
and the light

9/9/07