Schwartz Poems | Examples

Domicile

We Guard Our Love

Faith Strengthened

   To the hell of Theresienstadt transported
     all hope for freedom aborted

   Rabbi Shmuel Goldin understood what awaited
     a life of forced labor now fated

   Led into his barracks, which Jews shared with rats
     Reb Shmuel sat on his bed, removing his hat

   When what caught his eye, but a makeshift sign
     which strengthened his faith in his people divine

   For on a hidden door as he sat on his bed
     these words Shmuel read and reread:

   'This is none other than the House of G-d
     and this, the Gateway to Heaven.' (Genesis 28:17)

   "Surely," he cried, "no Jew may despair
     as long as he breathes G-d's holy air.  



   ________________________________________
   Based on a story heard from Rabbi Dr. Jonathan 
   Schwartz, the Rabbi of Congregation Adath Yisroel, 
   Elizabeth, NJ, youtube.com, 'Unity' - Not Agree-
   ment, Parshas Vayetze, Nov. 23, 2023.

Delmore

Delmore Schwartz
T'was said, "He cavorts!"
A career much too short,
But still the greatest of poets!

Ezra Schwartz

Ezra Schwartz  
Oct 1, 1997 —  Nov 19, 2015 

The dice of terror 
Was cast that day 
Young Ezra’s life  
Was taken away 

He went to Israel 
For his gap year 
To study at yeshiva 
And volunteer 

During a Mitzvah 
To feed some soldiers 
The van was ambushed  
By Jew hating ogres  

It mattered not  
They knew not him 
Or that his heart flowed 
With Simchas Hachaim 

To those you touched
You were a young Mensch 
To all who knew you
Your loss is immense

Young Ezra Schwartz  
I’ll never know you 
For they took you away 
For being a Jew

But what they don’t realize
You’re still here with us
You’re everywhere you smiled
And in everyone you touched

Dreaming Lower East Side

Lying back on my recliner 
  I flipped on 
Jonathan Schwartz who plays classic jazz tunes on his radio show 
   interspersed with some classic rock
I feel relaxed - having seen the 
   latest Woody Allan movie 
Here on the Lower East Side I do my dreaming
    Joy after going to the movies with a female friend from
my building
This city will provide one with sustenance
    if you choose your actions carefully
I even have tried to draw! 
   Well you can try what you like
but the city is full of masters  - great artists, dancers and singers 
  The city has plenty to offer 
so enrich yourself if you decide to live in or visit
  Gotham - "Baghdad on the Hudson" as O.Henry used to cal it!

Salt Spring Island

Hot summer day
Beautiful time to visit the island
Ferry to Schwartz Bay 
Then to Salt Spring
BC Transit takes you downtown to Ganges
Nice little village
Had coffee at Salt Spring Coffee Bean Cafe 

Then bus to Long Harbour
Ferrying back to Tswassen
Via Maynard, Pender, Galiano islands

Another summer day
To reminisce another
Warm dry day

Before the winter winds and rain
Start again.

Date Night (And the Day After)

Opening line from "Highway Five Love Poem" by Ruth L. Schwartz


This is a love poem for all the tomatoes
I squished to make our Date-Night spaghetti.
Our love, like the pasta, was shiny.  So the story goes.

We sit at our table, between us a rose
Red as the marinara I chose.  (He let me).
This is a love poem for all our tomatoes.

We watch the steam, which the mouth quickly blows
Away (like the wind and those petals the day he met me).
Our love, like the pasta, was sticky.  So the story goes.

We sip our red wine.  Chianti, it has a good nose.
(In the morning, do you think he will regret me?)
This is a love poem.  For all our tomatoes

Are gone, just as the wine hides grapes squished by toes
in authentic California vineyards.  (You get me?)
Our love, like the pasta, was steamy.  So the story goes.

We finish our meal with gestures the other knows.
(I wonder if he'll someday forget me.)
This isn't a love poem for all our tomatoes.
Our love, like our pasta, was al dente.  So our story goes.