Saturday, January 15, 2011

There, rest. No more suffering for you.


Kaddish

by Allen Ginsberg

It leaps about me, as I go out and walk the street, look back over my
shoulder. Seventh Avenue, the battlements of window office
buildings shouldering each other high, under a cloud, tall as the
sky an instant — and the sky above — an old blue place.

or down the Avenue to the South, to – as I walked toward the Lower
East Side – where you walked 50 years ago, little girl – from
Russia, eating the first poisonous tomatoes of America – frightened
on the dock –

then struggling in the crowds of Orchard Street toward what? – toward
Newark
toward candy store, first home-made sodas of the century, hand-churned
ice cream in backroom on musty brownfloor boards –
Toward education marriage nervous breakdown, operation, teaching
school, and learning to be mad, in a dream – what is this life?...

Ai! ai! we do worse! We are in a fix! And you're out, Death let you out.
Death had the Mercy, you're done with your century, done with
God, done with the path thru it – Done with yourself at last—
Pure – Black to the Babe dark before your Father, before us all—
before the world—

There, rest. No more suffering for you. I know where you've gone, it's
good.
.................................................

Listen to his poems here: http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Ginsberg.php

"Kaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service. The term "Kaddish" is often used to refer specifically to "The Mourners' Kaddish", said as part of the mourning rituals in Judaism in all prayer services as well as at funerals and memorials. When mention is made of "saying Kaddish", this unambiguously denotes the rituals of mourning."

2 comments:

M Bromberg said...

There is such good reading on your blog, and synchronicity is a powerful force. I listed to the recording of Allen reading "Kaddish" just before bed last night on the CD set "Holy Soul Jelly Roll". This morning I read your post. ... I'm sure Allen would find this more than coincidence.

Asha said...

Wow. Yes, I too keep having these coincidences, but after much reflection, no longer wonder about it, I just let it be :)
Thanks for your appreciation. I have been reading and listening to Ginsberg, this one stayed.

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