woman of letters

sometimes I wish the sequence of things could have more closely
resembled the corpus of the Delft master--
a series of moments of contemplation,
delicate with import.
framed by pale glow and white marble,
how could my days not have assumed a mantle of meaning?
the sun flowing through the many diamond frames
would have illuminated my letters from
old friends and imagined beaus in warrens of anxiety.
and I would have penned responses of hope and concern.
I would have understood their need
and the sweep of my stone rooms,
suffused in the calm of northern light,
would have eradicated their epistolary woe.

Yermiyahu Ahron Taub is a poet, librarian and translator who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. His poems have appeared in numerous English and Yiddish language literary publications. In 2001, his poem "questions of dress" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He recently translated 8 Yiddish plays, including Der Yidisher Kenig Lir (The Jewish King Lear) by Jacob Gordin, into English for the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater. He appears in and served as Yiddish subtitles editor for Divan, a documentary film by Pearl Gluck. His first book of poems, The Insatiable Psalm, is forthcoming from Wind River Press (www.windriverpress.com).

 
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