With Great Joy, My Friend Danced Before His Bride
He kicked his legs in the air and thrust his portly body so high,
none of the wedding guests encircling him could
believe it. And had you seen
the innocence
on his face, you would know
what it was like to stand as a Jew at Mount Sinai,
to see the eyelids of parents and children
parted as wide as a sea, in equal amazement.
none of the wedding guests encircling him could
believe it. And had you seen
the innocence
on his face, you would know
what it was like to stand as a Jew at Mount Sinai,
to see the eyelids of parents and children
parted as wide as a sea, in equal amazement.
And if, a short while later,
when my friend lost three successive jobs,
you heard the voices of those who said,
You see, the marriage was all a big mistake,
it should have been thought through a little more thoroughly,
then you would know how that great cynic Amalek
tries to make a Jew doubt that he comes from a place
a little higher than this world,
that he is more than just a heavy body carrying a trunk of sorrow
in the direction of probability’s push.
when my friend lost three successive jobs,
you heard the voices of those who said,
You see, the marriage was all a big mistake,
it should have been thought through a little more thoroughly,
then you would know how that great cynic Amalek
tries to make a Jew doubt that he comes from a place
a little higher than this world,
that he is more than just a heavy body carrying a trunk of sorrow
in the direction of probability’s push.
And if you saw how my friend leaped high out of his bed
and printed out a thousand copies of his resume--
how he believed in himself and his young marriage
enough to save them both—
and printed out a thousand copies of his resume--
how he believed in himself and his young marriage
enough to save them both—
then you might begin to understand what Mark Twain meant
when he said, All things are mortal but the Jew;
all other forces pass, but he remains.
And you might remember or not forget
that Amalek is just a liar
and, despite what he says,
and though it has taken so long,
when he said, All things are mortal but the Jew;
all other forces pass, but he remains.
And you might remember or not forget
that Amalek is just a liar
and, despite what he says,
and though it has taken so long,
the world is waiting to be made holy.
BY YEHOSHUA NOVEMBEr*
Yehoshua November’s poetry collection, G-d’s Optimism, is a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize in Poetry and the winner of the 2010 MSR Poetry Book Award. His work has been selected as the winner of the Bernice Slote Award and have also been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. His poems have appeared in a number of literary journals, including Prairie Schooner, The Sun, Margie, Provincetown Arts, and New Works Review. November teaches writing at Rutgers University and Touro College.
Yehoshua November’s poetry collection, G-d’s Optimism, is a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize in Poetry and the winner of the 2010 MSR Poetry Book Award. His work has been selected as the winner of the Bernice Slote Award and have also been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. His poems have appeared in a number of literary journals, including Prairie Schooner, The Sun, Margie, Provincetown Arts, and New Works Review. November teaches writing at Rutgers University and Touro College.
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