Remember

from Elijah

What do we heal with . . . we heal with mercy. And how deep is our — memory. Two pieces.

Elijah (‘Od Yavo)

Open the door onto 
Elijah

He sits with our
Beloveds 

Missing at our 
Table

He welcomes them
Now

Around our table
A glimpse

The door opens in
Quiet

Through the
Threshold

We welcome them
Remember 

Missing here
Welcomed there



j/sg

We Heal With Mercy (from Vigil)

We will grieve losses a long time
work the trauma history embedded in our stories

if we understand
we have to tell others what it’s like to be us

and when other people understand us
we will understand others better

how history exhales with every breath we inhale
we will be precise with mystery language 
treat each other with kindness

above all kindness and gentleness and understanding 
and respect and without judgment

without judgment most of all

pick ourselves up and ease off the pain
it’s a narrow bridge we do not add to the hurt

be easy on ourselves for not knowing for not having known 
for having done this or not done that 

what we carry from the past
heavy sacred hard hearted

we have to treat ourselves with kindness and with mercy 
because it’s right and we need to heal

and we only heal with mercy.