Breaking Training

With Gratitude to Julian of Norwich, died c. 1416

I let myself believe

that all is well, and

all is well, and all

manner of thing

shall be well.

How contrary to

my upbringing,

this notion is,

as if to see

this troubled

world and feel

around inside it

for the healing,

is to be

boring, vapid,

born without

imagination, or,

worse yet,

a traitor to

my ancestors.

But I take comfort

in the certainty

that we mystics

have no need of

adjectives, and that my

Sister Julian

would recognize me

not as Jewish mystic

but as a fellow celebrant

at the dawning of the day.

(Thanks also to Joanne Rose, fellow Type Rider Writer. I’ve launched this collection using a phrase “I let myself…” from something she wrote. And while I’m about the business of acknowledgements, special thanks to my friend and teacher, Maya Stein.)