By Bill Wylie-Kellermann
For Joanna and Eitan, August 25, 2010

When the half-moon hangs
faint in the mid-day sky
and earth already turns toward dusk
make a wedding

When the city, faint and far, cracks and cries
and blood forgotten runs beneath the streets
make a wedding

When earth and sea gasp for air
when the heat is on
and dread would rise
make a wedding

Make it of two so beloved
of one another
and of community
that a double mitzvah should fall

For a blessing summon the ancestors
the prophets, apostles, the grandmothers great
the cantors and crooners
the sweet groaners of slave camps
the family far and yearning
or even gone to God and yearning still
summon their single amen

For joy, sizzle the late summer harvest with garlic
hoist a cup overflowing, red with wine
and make a feast

Oh, and make a dance, a circle, a line,
a jubilant chaos of reverie into the night

And give thanks (to God)
to these two
who bet their lives
to declare a future
and even promise it into being

Who set their wandering path
To life!