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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A ZEMERLY FOR RABBI NACHMAN: 3. EQUITY by DAVID RYTMAN SLAVITT

First Line: KNOWING HOW BAD HE FEELS, HOW MUCH HE GRIEVES
Last Line: FOR GOD, WHO MUST ALSO GRIEVE CUT OFF FROM HIM.
Subject(s): ABSENCE; MOURNING; RELIGION; SEPARATION; ISOLATION; BEREAVEMENT; THEOLOGY;

Knowing how bad he feels, how much he grieves,
how sharply aware he is of the separation
between himself and God (all knowledge starts
from this), he extorts from this terrible absence
a consolation, extrapolating, to think
how it has to be, at the other end, much worse
for God, who must also grieve cut off from him.



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