Rubin Friedman

The sun was rising in the east, we headed for Toronto.
 
The golden haze around the sun surprised
 
A sliver of hope that the summer was simmering somewhere
 
While here the curtain of grey cloud was pushed, it seemed. by the sun itself,
 
Lifting the heavens higher and further away from us.
 
 
We were driving to a funeral
 
The Sabbath would […]

Mother I am getting old, I feel so very cold.
 
The blood does not flow where once it rushed.
 
The toes are blue while the face is flushed.
 
Mother, wife, o daughter mine
 
Hug me tight, in my arms entwine.
 
Do not let me slip into the river
 
The moving world that flows beneath my feet.
 
Keep me snuggled in your breast
 
Oh […]

I walked along the precipice of Niagara Falls, 
 
Felt the fierce force of the flood as it plunged into the gorge, 
 
The rush and rumble of rapids and the roaring of the river falling 
 
I walked along a tightrope stretched between now and then 
 
Between a desire to dive into the foam and a wish to flee, 
 
Drawn by a […]

Today a strange metallic light descended from on high 
 
In rays of cool hard glinting. 
 
I took a long brisk walk along the path 
 
And felt the sweat just oozing, 
 
The cool and clammy skin radiating back to the sky 
 
What had previously descended, 
 
A hard reflecting surface, a silver mirror without depth. 
 
And everything seemed artificial, 
 
The plastic leaves lying low beneath […]