I Lived Before The Poems

I LIVED BEFORE THE POEMS I lived before the poems Perhaps I will live after them The poems are not all I am They are not most of my life But they are very much Perhaps the best I have written Perhaps the essence of I would say Perhaps the most Beauty I have If I have any- The poems are more important to me now Than any other writing They are what I put my hope in However vain it might be I need the poems I love the poems The writing of them gives me meaning and hope- I lived before the poems Perhaps I will live after them Life is better with the poems Than it would be without them I hope to keep writing the poems for as long as I can It would be a blessing to end With a prayer which is a poem Shema Yisrael-