There’s the home I’m waiting to own, Furnished just to my tastes. And a business that I can conjure, Though it lives mostly in conceptual space.

There are traits I promised to perfect, And others I wish would have departed. Projects still unfinished, And many more still unstarted.

The bridge from 20s into 30s, Seems to have narrowed, Expectations and points of arrival, Sometimes distanced and harrowed.

It’s the wondering, if in fact, all my dreams will come true, It’s the sobering realization, it depends on what I do.

There has been life lived in chapters, I never thought would feature On the pages of my story, In which I would be the teacher…

Presenting to wide eyes, A demeanor of cool and calm. Sirens wailing through the air, My children resting in my arm.

War, a lived reality, Not a subject taught in history. Pain and fear and agony. Yet, resilience – a mystery?

In the safety of the safe room, I find a safe space. To indulge my dreamy thinking, And let pride take the stage.

While many things sit on the list, Nagging to be ‘done’. There is a great dream and accomplishment, In which I feel I’ve won.

In the place I always dreamed of, Despite warnings of difficulty and woes, “Want to become a millionaire in Israel?” “Arrive a billionaire, that’s how it goes.”

The language. The culture. The religious divisions. The banking. The schooling. Finding a good physician.

There’s a dream that I dream, And live daily too. In which I amass the greatest riches, Known to any Jew.

I toil to raise my family, In faith, and G-d’s good grace, And I do it on the streets, Of our most sacred place.

This dream is mine and ours, For me it took paperwork and a plane. But for us, it took thousands of years, And thousands of faces and names.

So to them, I say I’m grateful. I’m humbled with esteem. Your sacrifice does not go unnoticed, For you have gifted me, my dream.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)