Neila

by Marc Mangel

 

Before the gates are closed in heaven

before our prayers will fall

deaf as a rain in an

empty canyon

 

hear the final cry of the people

judge us not for the

good we should have

been

but rather for the

evil we did not become

because of you

 

and know that your people

often find it hard

to show

they love you more than

you can even know

 

when we ask for the

blessing

of forgetting

say yes

or your people shall vanish

never to be born again

 

September 1971