Pardes Dressed In Shadows

sister, what do you see
when you look at me, hurt, angry, in misery and trouble
shattered and torn, shut off, isolated, alone, weak and broken down
soul bound, to a place beyond the mind, wrapped all around
drawn in, an eternally collapsing nothing, huddled in the corner, almost
yet surviving reverberating assaults hurled down the line
bound bound bound bound bound bound bound
writ beyond reason, a token of Torah, side by side with empty words
deserted, forgotten and despised
sister, what do you see
when you look at me, hurt, angry, troubled with misery
is my prayer strange, foreign to you
this howling desolation, how do you hear it in your ear
affliction covered, like dust, despair incensing the air
telling of it, another world beckoning
the only true embrace caressing this broken soul
from a universe, a world, a reality, somewhere known
sister, sister, can you see
can you see the pain that ails me, witnessed
by the stars, by eyes gathered in heaven, by the endless sea
by the mouse that runs across the floor
sister, what do you see when you look at me