There are glow-stick stains on the carpet,
Which you can only see when it’s dark,
That happened when a glow stick cracked
During a youth group party.
There is a bathroom stall
Tucked in a corner of the Ladies’ Room
Where I cried
For half an hour
And I’m still not sure why.
There’s a little blue bench
Rough and worn and surrounded by roses
The prettiest place in the world
Where I sat in the cool summer night air
And felt beautiful.
There’s a scratched up vent
That all the kids know about, but somehow,
The adults don’t,
Where I still hide
During the High Holidays
And eat crumbling crackers
That the janitor slipped to me.
The same janitor that taught me Spanish as I
Sat at the same sticky plastic table
Where I wrote the English essay,
That had the highest score in my entire grade.
I say it was the love-magic,
That floats through this place
My second home,
My physical, emotional, spiritual
Sanctuary, where I pray so hard
Thank you thank you thank you
That my eyes have glistened with happy tears,
Like the dew drops on the flowers
: Donated by the Lieberman Fund, same as always:
That stand next to the polished white wood
That my friends and family have stood before and accepted time.
Accepted history
Accepted faith
Accepted me.
And I,
Baruch Adoni hamvorach leolam va-ed
Accepted them
Proud because now they would where the same strings as I do
And I look at the glow-stick stains
And I laugh.