“Final Crescent” by Jane Schulman
Think of me on bruise-blue nights when
the moon wanes to a wisp
and you scan the eastern sky, wondering.
And think of me as a crocus,
cracking through matted leaves.
For I was born on ebbing days
of Adar, when winds blew out-of-tune
and the moon was a final crescent.
My soul makes its way through the world
with hesitant footfalls.
Two of my sons were born in the month
of Nissan, prankish as lion cubs,
with hearts of honeycomb and voile.
I know my soul more
by what it is not.
Note:
Adar is the 12th Hebrew month that comes at winter’s end.
Nissan is the 1st Hebrew month that comes as spring begins.
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Jane Schulman is a poet who explores themes of love, death, and wonder in the everyday. Her poetry has appeared in various publications. “Off the Moon Path” was previously published in her first collection, Where Blue is Blue, by Main St. Rag Publishing Co.