Friday, March 23, 2012

Blessing the flowering fruit trees


Plum Tree

Hasn’t every poem about your
effusion of petals
drifting softly in the wind
luring bees to bathe in
each corolla’s golden pollen shower,
already been written?

What thanks can I give  
for your generosity overflowing
into petal, pollen, leaf and fruit
so abundant that you release them
to the breeze and the birds and the earth
without regret,
but these words.

_____________________________________________

  בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֶלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹל,
  שֶׁלֹא חִסַּר בָּעוֺלָמוֺ כְּלוּם,
  וּבָרָא בוֺ בְּרִיּוֺת טוֺבוֺת וְאִילָנוֺת טוֺבִים, לְהַנּוֺת בָּהֶם
  בְּנֵי אָדָם׃

  Baruch Ata Ado-nai, E-loheinu, Melech Ha'olam,
  shelo hasair b'olamo kloom,
  ubara bo briyot tovot v'ilanot tovot,
  leihanot bahem b'nai adam

Blessed are You, Adonai, Sovereign of the Universe,
who withheld nothing at all from the world You created 
and  placed in it both good creatures and flowering tree
 in which we can take pleasure.
(thanks to Elaine Reuben for the not-quite-literal translation.)

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