The sower's sweat
The reaper's joy
The sunshine’s languor
The singing of the rain -
In which is steeped
The bread we eat --

The pound of blood
The roil of life
The frolic of the calf
The ox's brawn -
That saturate the meat
Between our teeth --

The birth-throes of the bud
The sap's seep and flow
The pulse of the tree
The hum of the forest -
Frozen in the wood
Of our table - -

Barred from our door
Denied the shelter of our roof
They stand behind our chair
Holding on to the fork in our hand...

From the Hebrew by Yanki Tauber, originally published by www.chabad.org.

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