"Poems, Prayers, & Promises" #10

Featuring Yehuda Amichai and Jeanne Baxtresser

Aug 14, 2023

Welcome to another day of “Poems, Prayers, & Promises”

Remember, you’re the co-creator of this dive. Do as much or as little as you’d like, when you’d like, how you’d like, with the materials I provide. Just keep gentle faith with yourself.

Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

Enter the music

Read the poem

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to my reading the poem, perhaps with your eyes closed.

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I, MAY I REST IN PEACE
Yehuda Amichai
Translated from the Hebrew by Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld

I, may I rest in peace—I, who am still living, say,
May I have peace in the rest of my life.
I want peace right now while I'm still alive.
I don't want to wait like that pious man* who wished for one leg
of the golden chair of Paradise, I want a four-legged chair
right here, a plain wooden chair. I want the rest of my peace now.
I have lived out my life in wars of every kind: battles without
and within, close combat, face-to-face, the faces always
my own, my lover-face, my enemy-face.
Wars with the old weapons—sticks and stones, blunt axe, words,
dull ripping knife, love and hate,
and wars with newfangled weapons—machine gun, missile,
words, land mines exploding, love and hate,
I don't want to fulfill my parents' prophecy that life is war.
I want peace with all my body and all my soul.
Rest me in peace.


(from Open Closed Open: Poems, 2006 edition)

*Curator's note: Vivian Eden, a blogger for Haaretz, observes, "The `pious man' in the first stanza is from a Jewish folktale. He believed that in the world to come, he would sit on a golden chair. A prayer for just one leg of it to make ends meet in this world was granted, but then his wife worried that he would wobble uncomfortably on a three-legged chair for all eternity."

Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

How would you describe the tone of this prayer-poem?
What kind of chair is your life sitting in right now? How would you like it to change?
Do you currently feel “at war” with yourself or others? If so, what “weapons” are being used?
What does your “lover-face” look like? Your “enemy-face”?
What voices in this world have taught you, or would have you believe, that “life is war”? Do you agree?
What helps “rest you in peace”? Where does peace come from? How dependent is it on external conditions? On your practice of prayer?
Does your consideration of this poem move you to make any kind of promise to yourself or someone else?

Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

Here are two options: either leave a comment on this post using the button, or join the chat thread dedicated to this Deep Dive. (Note: if you haven’t created a Substack profile yet, you’ll be asked to do so before you can comment or chat.)

Join us on September 5 for “Rafter Refuge”!

6:30-8:00PM Central (7:30 ET, 5:30 MT, 4:30 PT)

Let’s close this Deep Dive with a time of sharing. Come and reflect with other Rafters on “Poems, Prayers, & Promises.” Registration is required for this celebration.