Break upon the Cold, White Sands of Darkness

Music: Ricercare a 6 from the Musical Offering.
By J.S. Bach. Sequencer Unknown.
Revised by David J. Grossman at Kunst der Fuge.

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Hanukkah Poems

Break upon the cold, white sands of darkness!
O oceans, come and break, and break again!
Need, desire, hope, and anger break!
None but God can light from darkness make.
Immensities, come break, come break within!
Each heart must at its heart find emptiness.

Sing, then, as you rise towards emptiness.
Each wave must break, must break upon the darkness,
Then gather itself back to swell within,
Heave up against the sand, and break again.
All rise and fall from nothing, nothing make,
Nor render aught but beauty as they break.
Do not dread the shore on which you break.
Eight days the light burned, fueled by emptiness,
Light that only miracles can make
In you, as God has fashioned it from darkness,
Zero - not just once, again, again,
As consciousness comes forth to reign within.
Break, then, with no sorrow! Break within!
Elevate your longing and then break!
Take in the undertow and break again,
Having filled your heart with emptiness.

Granted that we all are bound for darkness --
All we are and do, and all we make.
Be humble, then, in all you do and make,
Rising like a wave to break within,
Immensity that breaks upon the darkness,
Easing back again to rise and break,
Life so full of life, then emptiness,
Knowing that the wave will break again.
Embrace the light, embrace the dark, again
Needing, knowing, wanting, longing. Make
No protest as you rise towards emptiness,
A wave that sings to harmonies within.

Even as we know that we must break
Like waves upon the cold, white sands of darkness,
Longing fills the emptiness within,
Each, each time again prepared to make
No imprint as we break upon the darkness.