by Michal Mahgerefteh

words, each letter embroidered in gold
     prolong the musicality of internal rhythms
in an instant intimacy they cast the way 
 
without the sense of vacancy into the labor
     of life  turn the whirl of shattered pieces
giving them legacy and love in between
 
words, do not wither like grass
     look for scraps of food like exiles
nor thirst a drink like a parched land
 
words, the last ember transformed
      a branch to assemble the Twelve Tribes
sowed seeds from which the Three Trees
 
grew stronger as inscribed
     on the Tablets at the foothills of Sinai
a Covenant and a Promised Land

The Three Trees — Tree of Life, Tree of Knowledge, Tree of Good and Evil

Michal Mahgerefteh is an award-winning poet and artist from Virginia. She is the author of four poetry collections, editor of Poetica Magazine and Mizmor Anthology, and the managing editor of Poetica Publishing. Michal is writing her next collection, FishMoon, forthcoming May 2022. This poem is from her collection ‘Field of Harps’ (2016).