The Twenty Seventh Day of the Omer

The Endless Journey

The endless journey

no pathways

just a tangle of weeds

and stinging nettles

stumps and burrows

ambushing my feet.

Treading gingerly

wincing as I stumble

no alternative

except to move on

I press ahead

no destination beckoning

just the lashes of the past

at my back

driving me ‘away from here

always away from here

away from here’.[1]

But there is no escape

despite my zeal and haste

the old familiar terrain

stalking me relentlessly

every footfall that doesn’t slip

finding its twin

congealed in the mud.

And yet

going round and round again

I keep stepping out

still hoping

I’ll reach the turning

that leads to Another Country.[2]

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

May 2004

[1] From Franz Kaka. See: http://www.kafka.org/index.php?aid=172 [2] Another Country is the title of a book by James Baldwin – my favourite author, when I was a teenager. It was first published in 1962 and was published as a ‘Penguin Classic’ in 2001.