a poem by gad hollander

Fugato (Coda)

I made a song and placed it far, near God,

a doublewind, a song of love;

I made it out of breath, it gasped for touch.

I made it in the empty mind, a thought

of smoke, of limb and skull, of memory;

I placed it far, a poem for the pure one.

I taught my song the algebra of praise,

it sang the praise of God, it sang in a space

confined to song, far, near God.

A doublewind, a song of love,

children pranced according to its rhythm,

and all the summers heard it, the summers of smoke.

I made it in my mind, and the empty sky

soon filled, and the far places heard it;

it gasped for God, I made it out of breath.

A song, a thought, a memory of song;

I made it once, and twice, and always.

I made a song and placed it far;

it sang the praise of God, in a space confined

to breath it sang. I made my song

in the empty mind, God claimed it as his own;

the song of love,

the doublewind.

Hollander, Gad. "Fugato (Coda)" Voices Within the Ark: The Modern Jewish Poets. New York: Avon Books,1980.