Are you bored. Do you hate missing out but also
have trouble sleeping. What if fatigue wins
and you never regain momentum. Might you need
pharmaceutical intervention. Can you still dream.
Who are you when you’re not at work. Do you thrive on
more or less. When is self-reproach tantamount
to a death wish. Are you shaking your head
as you read. Has your breath ever lurched
under your breastbone like a small tattered fin
snagged in a net. Why is the sacred
the one space you often misplace in yourself.
What did you do last Sunday. If you volunteer
a whole day to be good for nothing,
what is it worth. Do weekly timeouts make anyone
more like God. Who last called you a sinner.
If you pledge to unmuzzle your heart and
you worry you can’t stop crying and all those tears—
when they finally cease—litter your face with pale sand,
please, share what the rabbi stoops to write.

With thanks to Barbara Brown Taylor