The East Wind is a rabbi in a darkened shul. He sits pored over the Torah scroll long into the night, his back bent like a cane. People come and go and come again, whispering prayers for the needy, the hungry, the sick.

my walk home.

the 4 p.m. sunset already lighting the shamash on the horizon,

melting the mountains like orange wax.

lunch with my friends, onion rings & coconut yogurt

I walk home wearing twin braids with bows

and a big smile because I'm wishing for snow.

Snow like a blanket, thick and white,

I want it to fall all through the night -

to cover the roads and the trees and the hills,