Notwithstanding the general chaos of the month of Tishrei, I love this time of year. I love Fall in NYC and I love the High Holidays. For some people, this is a time of deep introspection and prayer. To be perfectly honest, with my multiple and overlapping responsibilities at home and in my community, that's a luxury I don't usually get much of. I make do with some very concentrated prayers and squeeze all the intention I can into them: "please Gd I need... (looong list)" or "please Gd help me with (looong list)" or just: "G-d, You know what I need, make it all work! Now I gotta run"  and I just pray that my concentrated prayers reach Him. Then it occurred to me that in leaving out much of the formal written prayers, I'm skipping some really important formalities, like, for example, thanking G-d for what I have before asking for more. Sometime in the middle of that night, I made my way through my house, overwhelmed with gratitude for my many blessings, and for the moment, and this poem sort of wrote itself. 

Pre-Dawn Prayer

Thank you G-d for these children
Not even for their shining faces
Just for their breathing
At three a.m.
Twisted in their blankets
In their rooms
(thank you G-d for their rooms)
Asleep, and safe
With parents down the hall- asleep

And baby sister
paused for a brief time between late nights and early morns
Angel-faced, asleep for now

Thank you G-d for now
And always.