Shalom Freedman Poems

The sadness of seeing one's old books
Neglected on their shelves
The remembrance of the thrill of their acquisition
The joy and interest their reading once gave
...

I try to remember
I cannot really
So many times of my life
Traces
...

I write and write these small poems
But what do they mean?
After all the years
The silence tells me
...

Another miserable rainy day
In a long winter of mostly miserable days
Another cold invigorating winter day
Another rich water world day
...

I got out
I took the ten-minute permitted walk
I do not believe how happy I was
Just to walk and move
...

Is it really about to be over?
So suddenly so soon?
Are so few new cases
The sign of liberation?
...

My mind was working another way
I was far from poetry
But then I felt lonely without it
As if I had given away the best part of myself
...

The colors suddenly make me happy for a moment
Perhaps they can also calm me a bit now
The amber the shades of green the yellow leaves
And the bright glistening grass
...

Life as it is now is a poem for me-
I don't know how long it will last
But here now
How happy I am
...

It is time to pray
I am alone
I will soon pray alone
There is a minyan nearby
...