Teshuvah means Returning

Teshuvah/Returning 

c. Yael Fischman, 2024

But I don't want

to return

to repeat the pattern

the circular staircase*

ruin and recrimination.

I want- oh how I want-

to start again, fresh and fantastic

first taste of food after the fast

But I am not God

and you do not believe I can change.

What do you want?

Shall we maintain silence?

Continue to avoid each other's paths

like two territorial cats fighting until

too tired to fight?

Shall I repeat Sarah's deed and  call you Ishmael?

Or have I already failed the test, and are you Isaac?

 -Yael Fischman, 2024 

* I am indebted to Linda Pastan's  work,  The Five Stages of Grief for this concept.