Shekinah

 by Elisabeth Mehl Greene

Sunset in pinks over water, with a flock of birds

The Spirit of El,
She made me.
And the breath of
El Shaddai
the strong
does not destroy,
ehyeh asher ehyeh
She keeps me alive.

Who can speak
for the Shekinah?

A mother in labor
A mother who gives birth
A mother who nurses
A mother who comforts her child
as God does.

Who can speak
for the Shekinah?

Who is like the Lord?
A woman who helps a child walk
An eagle spreading her wings over young
A woman who searches for something lost
as God does.

The Spirit of El,
She made me.
And the breath of
El Shaddai
the strong
does not destroy,
ehyeh asher ehyeh
She keeps me alive.

From Lady Midrash: Poems Reclaiming the Voices of Biblical Women. Used by permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Elisabeth Mehl Greene is a writer and composer working in the Washington, D.C., area. Her opera, Hajar, won the University of Maryland Opera Composition Contest and premiered in 2019. Her first book, Lady Midrash: Poems Reclaiming the Voices of Biblical Women, was published by Resource Publications in 2016 (reviewed here on CFT). Her poetry has been published by Mizna, the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, and District Lines.

3 COMMENTS

  1. I love this poem, Elisabeth. Beautiful ways to address our Creator: the Shekinah, the Spirit of El, El Shaddai. I enjoyed your workshop at the CFT conference in 2016.

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