Jump

"Just jump," the old lady said to me.

I had no idea what she meant. "If I jump won't I land on the ground again?" I asked.

"Of course you will," she laughed. "But in the process you'll be grabbing a piece of the sky."

"The sky, the sky," I said. "What will I do with it?"

"Ha, ha, ha," she laughed again. "What does anyone do with the sky?"

"Umm, eat it, I suppose? No, no that doesn't sound right. Perhaps I do nothing with it but cloak myself in it to give me courage and make me feel light, like I can fly."

"Exactly my child, you are a smart one. I didn't put my hope in you for nothing. With pieces of the sky you will fly."

"But where will I fly to? I'm afraid to enter the unknown."

"No, you're not. You're just afraid you'll fall and enter a no man's land of nothing. But the world is full of people and beauty and sky. There is no such thing as emptiness."

"Of course there is, I've felt it so many times."

"That's because you've stood outside the doors of opportunity afraid to jump. Such doors are not on the ground but a few feet up. You must jump through and not be afraid. It's when you're afraid and stay where you are that life moves on and you feel the desolation of being left standing alone. So my child don't be afraid, just jump, jump!"

Copyright © 2010 Chaya Silberstein

Heart-In-A-Box

I found Jack
on an abandoned hill
with a broken crown.

"Save me," he said.
"I'm so injured."

So I put Jack in a box.

Content was he for many days
'till he said, "I want to bop."
So I winded him up
and out he popped.

"I'm free, I'm free!"
He shouted with glee
but I grabbed his head
and stuffed him back in again.

Out he popped,
in he stopped.
Rife with distress
he asked, "What is this mess?"

"You belong to the box," I said.
"It's even in your name,
"you're nothing without the box
"so in you go again."

And I stuffed him back with all my might;
out of sight
out of sight
out of sight.

Comforted was I at keeping the unknown at bay,
Jack out of a box?
No way,
no way,
no way.

Days passed.

I decided to climb a hill,
fell down,
broke my own sorry crown.

Found myself in a box too.
Rescued by Jill
skipping down a hill.

"What is this box?"
I questioned.

It was vast and empty and lonely.

"The heart and mind contain
"so many self-built constructs,"
Jill said.
"You have only to see
"and you'll be free."

I didn't see
I didn't see
boxed by this world
everything felt dark.

'Till one day when my box opened
I gazed into the eyes of a strange man.

It was grown-up Jack.

"You saved me once from a broken crown,"
he said,
"So now I will save you."

"But how did you get free?" I asked.
"You're just a toy, you know."

"That's your problem," Jack said.
"When Jill saved you, she saved me too.
"She looked into my box
"and where you saw a toy
"she saw a man.
"Though you may not be able,
"she said, 'I'll love you without a label.'"
"Now Jump!" He said.
"Stop expecting things to be a certain way,
"redefine what you always defined
"and the box itself will disappear."

"But Jill put me in a box too,"
I said.

"You thought a box would heal you,
"so Jill let you be.
"It's only your own heart that will set you free.
"Learn to love what you don't know
"and beyond any box you will grow."

Jack and Jill
Went up a Hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
yet Jill was there to mend it.

Copyright © 2009 Chaya Silberstein

My Philosophy

Love with all your heart,
Laugh with all your might,
Dance to nature's beat and
Revel in true beauty.

Copyright © 2009 Chaya Silberstein

Emerald Dolls

Creature of the night
lights a cigarette,
"Do not forsake me,"
she whispers to glass
reflecting an emerald self.

"This is what I've become!
While night slipped in the valley
light on either peak
I slipped too
while attempting to cross to the other side.

Dolls, so pretty with porcelain skin
and sea blue eyes,
I put on lipstick and marched in line.
Served booze for dinner
to weary souls
a day's labor done,
night labor just begun.

'It'll rob your soul,'
raven hair warned.
The night or the life?
I did not know which she meant.

Dolls play
customers pay.

No it's not prostitution
not even stripping
but simply serving
a cocktail straight-up
rocks
shot
while humans sleep
and stars fall from the sky.

Oh it's the funnest sort of life
to simply be a doll
dolls play too
once boozers are turned out.

To kiss a pole
We jump so high
hopscotch in the sky
the bar is all ours."

Abed with the rising sun
Awake with the rising moon
soon life becomes darker
as time slips away.

One doll chasing the sun
rises above
never sleeping
two lives meet.
Servant of the day
King at night
he is worshipped
as others fade away.

The night is a time
suitable for some
but most creatures
eventually need sun.

Skin turns emerald
while searching for light
oh emerald
emerald
the color of night.

Emerald
emerald
the creature
comes out of a trance
tap tap tap
she begins to dance.

For she notices light
still on the peak
and swears she'll get back up
no matter how steep.

"I don't know how," she says,
"But I'll find a way."
and suddenly glancing at her hand
indeed finds hope
in a product of the day,
for there something bright
is shining shining

a cigarette flame.

She takes one last drag.

"Light has so many forms,"
She declares
"So it's not about how
but to scale this mountain
I simply begin with now."

The creature begins to climb
emerald skin fades away
it no longer matters who she is
or what she is
as long as she found day.

Copyright © 2009 Chaya Silberstein

Journey Past the Backyard

A long journey the poet took
without ever leaving her backyard.
She left one day and wept;
a whole wide world still to explore.
Tears turned to rivers
she swam across
and conquered an island all to herself.
The poet wept tears of joy,
the world was hers
yet to explore.

Copyright © 2009 Chaya Silberstein