Mount Arbel in the Moonlight

Here's another poem of pilgrimage...

Mount Arbel at night.

MOUNT ARBEL IN THE MOONLIGHT

Israel Pilgrimage--2006

 

Traveling in the tour bus from Tel Aviv

we arrive at the base of Mount Arbel

before twilight turns to dusk

 

The prudent would

postpone this venture

till daybreak, but

the zealous are rarely prudent

 

so seventy of us

imprudent zealous pilgrims

hastily begin an uphill trek

dodging rocky obstacles

Sprightly pilgrim feet

shuffle, sprint and stumble

up the mount

right to the cliff edge

at the pinnacle

 

The last vestiges of twilight

reveal the Galilee

flowing below us, darkly

like a great well of ink

Thousands of twinkling pin-lights

emanate from across the lake

…the city of Tiberius

 

The full moon

makes shadows of us all

as our guide teaches

and our rabbi ministers

 

We sing

O how we sing—

 

We are standing

on holy ground and we know

that there are angels all around…

 

and song after song of praise

unconcerned about hour or nightfall

 

Our exhilarated spirits mellow

and we lapse into solemn silence

except for muffled adoration

by a few and gentle weeping

by those bearing weighty burdens

 

then one by one

we make our way

…sure-footedly

down the steep, stony path

as God’s great October orb

casts a holy beacon

upon what otherwise would be

a treacherous, dark descent

 

Maude Carolan Pych

 

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