Kaddish

by Rabbi David Zaslow

When I see the light
that shines on you,
what I see now
is stored in me as memory.
Someday (a long time off please God)
one of us will say kaddish for the other
retrieving that light within memory
and leaving the realm
of the here and now in space
and entering the realm
of the there and then in time.

Kaddish – a time machine
whose wheels and wings are words
that take us back to souls
that once were here
and now are there
coming back to here
in the light of our remembrance
as we say those now familiar words:
Yitgadal v’yitkadash shemay rabbah

Kaddish brings their souls
back from there to here,
to here and now
for just a moment
to guide us, love us,
and bless us now
where time meets space
within us now and then
and we say “Amen.”