I Need A Poem For The Evening Poem by Shalom Freedman

I need a poem for the evening
The day has been difficult
Visiting two very sick friends and the wife of one on the edge of breakdown
Being in a crowd of one’s own people and feeling oneself a stranger
Praying at the Kotel in gratitude and yet wondering if the prayer real
Wondering how life could go so wrong for those I know of my own age
When it hasn’t for me yet
Praying to God
And wondering why God should listen to me

Life is difficult
Suffering is real
Disappointment is endemic in the human condition
I can still write a poem
Even if it is an unhappy one.