Shall we cry out in anger, O God,
Because Your gifts are ours but for a while?
Shall we forget the blessing of health
The moment it gives way to illness and pain?
Shall we be ungrateful for the moments of laughter, the seasons of joy, the days of gladness and festivity?
When a fate beyond our understanding takes from us
Friends and family whom we have cherished, and leaves us
Bereft of shining presences that have lit our way
Through times of affection and companionship,
When tears cloud our eyes and darken our world,
And our hearts are heavy within us,
Shall we blot from our minds the love
We have known and in which we have rejoiced?
Give us the vision, O God, to see and feel
That imbedded deep in each of Your gifts
Is a core of eternity, undiminished and bright,
An eternity that survives the dread hours of affliction and misery.
Those we have loved, though now beyond our view,
Have given form and quality to our lives;
And they live on, unfailingly feeding
Our hearts and minds and imaginations.
They have led us into the wide universe
We continue to inhabit; and their presence
is more vital to us than their absence.
What you give, O Lord, You do not take away,
And bounties once granted
Shed their radiance evermore.
Within us Your love and vision,
Now woven deep into the texture of our beings,
Live and will be ours forever.
Morris Adler - adapted - Siddur Hadash, The Prayer Book Press