I Am Happy This Chanukah - Poem by Shalom Freedman

I am happy this Chanukah
After all the years of praying and waiting
My children have children of their own
I thank God for this-

I am quite old now
But I don’t yet feel it that much-
Perhaps I did not make it in my work as I hoped
But in so much of my life the only word is ‘Gratitude’.

Thank God I am still here in Israel in Jerusalem
After all these years
Sitting in a park off Palmach Street
The sun on the page
Writing in calm
These small words down.