Night Blessing

I don't usually post other people's poems, but today I shall. Can anyone tell me more about this piece?

I stumbled across it in the Oxford Book of Prayer by George Appleton. It's under Jewish individual prayers and mediations, and is attributed as Nechum Bronze. There's no date, and I'm not even sure if Nechum Bronze is a thing or a person. Nothing in the back matter that I can find.

So lovely ... clearly it's deep in the tradition (of course) Jewish call-and-response -- but it's also an almost perfect ghazal, except for the inversion of the pattern in the "let heaven" stanza. I've been working on something similar but this is so much better. Anyway, enjoy:


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Lord, let Your light be only for the day,
And the darkness for the night.
And let my dress, my poor humble dress
Lie quietly over my chair at night.

Let the church-bells be silent,
My neighbour Ivan not ring them at night.
Let the wind not waken the children
Out of their sleep at night.

Let the hen sleep on its roost, the horse in the stable
All through the night.
Remove the stone from the middle of the road
So the thief may not stumble at night.

Let heaven be quiet during the night.
Restrain the lightning, silence the thunder,
They should not frighten mothers giving birth
To their babies at night.

And me too protect against fire and water,
Protect my poor roof at night.
Let my dress, my poor humble dress
Lie quietly over my chair at night.

2 Comments

Linea said:

I can’t help you on where it came from but I love it too.

ccridge said:

And me too protect against fire and water, Protect my poor roof at night. Let my dress, my poor humble dress Lie quietly over my chair at night.
….

After the opening mention there is nothing of the w oman praying; then at the last she prays for herself, and it seems to me that she has escaped her home and dress and has gone away. The night prayer is a goodbye prayer.

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The Republic of Squirrels is the next entry in this blog.

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