In Memory of Rabbi Ian L. Wolk
September 24, 1940 - January 20, 2015
JOURNEYS
I. View from the Old Country
Chiming me into the morning,
my iPhone app
serves up its random quote,
today's from C.S. Lewis.
"To love someone
is to expose oneself to
loss."
Yesterday there were all the friends,
the family,
re-connecting embraces,
laughter even.
Of course.
Ancient blessings
returned his body to
Mother Earth.
Reluctant shovelfuls of dirt
thudded down upon
his wooden box . . .
its hollow sound
a lament of
emptiness.
Or perhaps it was
my heart I heard.
All those sweet and
bitter reminders of
then . . . and now . . .
Still.
I need to find an app
to remind me that
he's gone.
~ James M. Truxell
1-27-2015
II. Ellis Island
He had, after all,
signed the petition
supporting comprehensive
immigration
reform.
So why was I at all
surprised
to hear he had been seen
dancing an
Irish jig . . .
and gardening amidst that
crimson bed of
roses . . .
telling his
visitor
how happy
he was.
Of course.
After all,
he wasn't the first,
to be received.
There
were countless other
rabbis
before him . . .
including that immigration officer
over there . . .
the one who now,
certifying his papers to be in order,
embraces him with a
"Welcome home!" . . .
that officer whose badge says his name is
Yeshua.
~ James M. Truxell
1-27-2015
