SOM* – I close my mouth

SOM – I close my mouth
As the wraiths pass over the house
Tearing at the rooftiles with malicious glee.

I allow them no entrance
I have learnt of the desert deaths.

I stand as the storm rages
And the land is wildly purified

I stand and you have departed.

I breathe as the wind pales.

“He split the rocks
And gave them drink
As though from limitless depths
And they abandoned Him.”

You split my thought from my desire
And make me thirst
As though from limitless depths
And still I do not abandon you.

You are an image of a man who lives
In the showroom of imagination’s window
Yet I choose you over Him.

I stoop to drink from the barren ground.

Can these ghostly waters flee?

“At your reproof the waters fled
At the voice of your thunder
They sped away
Flowing over mountains and
Down the valley
To the place that you had fixed”

But what of this storm that arises in me,
Perfect in unreality?

Who has power over the non-existing things?

They tear through the trees
And bend the trunks towards the
Emptying shore.

“Ignorant and uncomprehending
They wander in darkness
While the foundations of the
World are tottering”.

I close my mouth – SOM
For I fear the judgement of God.

“He satisfied their cravings in the desert
But their cravings were still upon them.
The food was still in their mouths
When the wrath of God descended.

When the wrath of God attacked them,
Slaughtering their strong men
Laying low the flower of Israel”.

SOM – I close my mouth
As the wraiths pass over the house
Tearing at the rooftiles with malicious glee.

I allow them no entrance
I have learnt of the desert deaths
And I stand as the storm rages
And the land is wildly purified.

And You have departed.

Sarah de Nordwall 2011

In Hebrew the word ‘Som’ means to close the mouth, ie to fast
“He split the rocks..” Psalm 78 v 15 to 17