Baruch November: Beard 16

Most Hebrew Schools cut the Song of Songs out 

of the classrooms. 

I would have liked to learn how thighs can be of gold,

what it was to love 

a woman whose breath was the very scent 

of fresh apricots, 

whose young body was the fruit of the palm 

in my palms.   

.

But a history of love in open fields must be concealed

from the young,

as King Solomon said, “Never awaken love 

until it is ripe” 

.

lest we feel the warmest happiness 

before we know the ages of longing it takes 

to understand it,

lest we wander cities craving dark, curved women 

before we are strong enough 

to keep promises,

lest we are taken for good by the glint of light 

on eyes the roundness of dates, 

the color of figs,

and mistake the untrimmed beards of our rabbis—

mystical symbols 

of deep compassion—

as the mark of wild and thoughtless lovers. 

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Copyright 2019 Baruch November. From Bar Mitzvah Dreams published by Main Street Rag.