near your throat where songs are sung (the source)

Photo of natural paper by T L Oberman

Near your throat where songs are sung, but lower
In your chest, under your ribs where breath pulls
Notes in for slow baking in scented warm
Air that hugs you inside like soft dough,

Recognize the bright rising fragrance that
Opens across your face with spices that
Speak with affection, with light, sparks, with your
Eyes tasting it dripping from our fingers.

An acrostic for my daughter included in her bat mitzvah in 2005 prior to chanting the prayer Ahava Rabbah (with an abundant love) which is part of the morning service just prior to the Shema (hear, o isreal)

For background on the poems I’ve published on Medium see “about these poems”