The Rain Has Come In Strength At Last Poem by Shalom Freedman

THE RAIN HAS COME IN STRENGTH AT LAST

The rain has come in strength at last
It has brought with it
Darkness and cold.
Dare I go outside?

Inside I am warm
The light blesses and heats me
It is all so good and safe and protected.

I soon will go outside
The rain will drench me
I will shake with cold
I will try to escape
The floods at the corners
I will rush to where I go.

Will there be a minyan?
Does it make sense
To risk my health
At my age?

And if there are nine
And I don’t go?

And if I am the ninth
And we somehow can get a tenth?

A man alone is one kind of poem
But when there are other people in one’s world
One has to consider them
Even if the price is cold and wetness and sickness.