Poem for Sunday and Museums by Candlelight

Mosaic
By Linda Pastan

1. The Sacrifice

On this tile
the knife
like a sickle-moon hangs
in the painted air
as if it had learned a dance
of its own,
the way the boy has
among the vivid
breakable flowers,
the way Abraham has
among the boulders,
his two feet heavy
as stones.

2. Near Sinai

God's hand here
is the size of a tiny cloud,
and the wordless tablets
he holds out
curve like the temple doors.
Moses, reaching up
must see on their empty surface
laws chiseled in his mind
by the persistent wind
of the desert, by wind
in the bulrushes.

3. The Flight Into Egypt

We know by the halos
that circle these heads
like rings around planets
that the small donkey
has carried his burden
away from the thunder
of the Old Testament
into the lightning
of the New.

4. At the Armenian Tile Shop

Under the bright glazes
Esau watches Jacob,
Cain watches Abel.
With the same heavy eyes
the tilemaker's Arab assistant
watches me,
all of us wondering
why for every pair
there is just one
blessing.

--------

Happy Chanukah! We celebrated at home after spending the day with my in-laws in Frederick on the Museums by Candlelight tour, when Frederick County's museums are free for holiday visitors. Adam and Maddy had to get back to school in time for the show, so we didn't get to all the places we've gone in past years, but we had lunch at the fabulous Beans in the Belfry, visited the Brunswick Railroad Museum, went to the South Mountain Historical Society which had live music and snacks, drove to South Mountain Creamery to see the cows and get egg nog, then stopped at Kiparoo Farm to see the handmade yarns and the sheep that provide the wool!


Brunswick's coffeeshop-in-a-church Beans in the Belfry from the upper level, decorated for the season.


Adam and Maddy trying on historic costumes in the Brunswick Railroad Museum.


A parade of motorcycle Santas in Brunswick preparing to ride.


An adorable beagle resting on a sofa in a Brunswick antique shop.


Though Burkittsville's post office is now across the street, the historic one is in the South Mountain Historical Society, housed in a former church that served as a Civil War hospital.


Maddy getting her hand kissed by a week-old calf at South Mountain Creamery.


A resident cat at Kiparoo Farm showing off the beautiful yarn.


And the sun coming through the clouds at Kiparoo Farm (I have better photos but no time to edit them tonight).

Adam and Maddy went out to IHOP with other techies after the show; the rest of us had latkes and fried chicken for Chanukah, which we celebrated in a rush before Adam had to leave, then watched National Treasure because someone mentioned it and we were just in that sort of a mood. Paul's parents brought us some snacks from the Utz Factory Store and we are having Chanukah dinner with my parents on Sunday after we all see the high school show which Maddy and Adam's friend Daniel are in, so it is just going to be a weekend of good eating!