Resting on a bench
outside the old city wall
I heard a tapping.
A blind man was approaching.
As he felt his way
he would tap my legs,
so I said hello.
He sat beside me
and asked who I was.
I spoke no Hebrew,
Shlomo hardly any English.
He tried German and Spanish.
A little French we had in common.
Lonely I guess,
he asked me
back to his place,
a short walk
and down to a basement,
bare essentials
spotless.
He brewed coffee,
cautioned me
not to move anything
lest he could not find it.
He had lost his sight
in the Arab Israeli war of 1948.
There was much else
he tried to share.
I listened
but could not comprehend.
I felt humbled.
When I left
he was so grateful,
gave me his address.
I wrote
but did not hear back.
Who would read it for him?
The two greatest Jews I ever knew
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a singing troubador
reaching lost souls through his joyous music
Taken from us too soon, too soon, 1994
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, who saw a smile on every Jew
Made you proud to say, 'The Rebbe I knew'
Never found a Jew so jaded, so touch
that he couldn't find his sunshine, sure enough
___________________________________________
Both of these great men were taken from us in 1994.
Yaakov is Jacob
Yosef now Joseph
Shlomo now Solomon
Jonathan - Yonatan
Is it the Anglicization
or the Hebraization
underpins the garblization
of this transliteration
King Shlomo was a real smart man
He built the Temple per God's plan
They say he penned "The Song of Songs"
Such brilliance should have lasted long
But was he really truly wise
What need had he for all those wives
Iambic Tetrameter
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