A scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 

(Gospel)

The Complaint

White pebble
in my hand 

you are fiercely
impenetrable

will it always be
a matter of surface
with you and me—

I am learning
to live with you 

but your language
is beyond me

beyond my thinking's
noisy machinery

beyond memory’s frontier
off imagination’s edge— 

I have been promised
another white stone

bearing a new name
known only to me

will it too
be impenetrable 

I am beginning
to live with you

I am beginning
to see

 

J. Janda