Feathers*
Words, like feathers, fly
In the wind, in the wind
Reaching far and wide
In the wind, in the wind.
Careless words, tossed about,
Cannot again be swallowed up.
Tongues, like swords, can cut the heart.
Words fly out.
The rumours start.
Cruel words, like feathers, fly.
Cruel words reach far and wide.
Try and try to gather them again,
But they fly away in the wind.
A woman whose tongue was sharp and unkind was accused of starting a rumour. She was brought before the village rabbi, protesting:
-“What I said was in jest, just humour! My words were carried forth by others. I am not to blame.”
But the victim cried for justice, saying:
-“You’ve soiled my own good name!”
-“I can make amends”- said the woman accused. –“I’ll just take back my words and assume I’m excused.”
The rabbi listened to what she said and sadly thought as he shook his head: “this woman does not comprehend her crime. She shall do it again and again in time.”
And so he said to the woman accused:
-“Your careless words cannot be excused until…
…you bring my feather pillow to the market square, cut it and let the feathers fly through the air. When this task is done, bring me back the feathers- every one.”
The woman reluctantly agreed. She thought: “the wise old rabbi has gone mad indeed!”
But to humour him, she took his pillow to the village square. She cut it and feathers filled the air.
She tried to catch, she tried to snatch. She tried to collect each one. But weary with effort, she quickly discovered the task could not be done.
She returned with very few of the feathers in hand.
-“I couldn’t get them back. They’ve scattered over the land, I suppose!”- she sighed as she lowered her head- “like the words I can’t take back from the rumour I spread.”
Cruel words, like feathers, fly.
Cruel words reach far and wide.
They leave the mouth a bitter rind.
May all your words, my friend, be kind.
[*A poem based on a tale told in Eastern Europe by Maggid of Dubno, an 18th century Hasidic rabbi]