Judy Koren

The Repairer of Dreams

They come to me in gloom, all shapes and sizes,
once larger and more beautiful than life
now broken by deceits and compromises
to shattered fragments scattered wide by strife. 

I brush disillusion from every brow,
replace it with the iridescent glitter
of stardust, and the bright northern-light glow

of the unattainable come down to earth,
glue them together with hope, remove the bitter
coating of self-loathing or doubt of worth,

wipe away the heartbreak, despair and pain, 
the acid rain of failure; restore their gleam,
return each to its dreamer to dream again
for who can live without an unshattered dream?

Judy Koren, from Haifa, Israel, retired a few years ago from a career as a freelance information analyst and returned to poetry, her first love. Her poems have appeared in Israeli and international literary magazines, among them Better Than Starbucks, Blue Unicorn, Lighten Up Online (UK), The Orchards Poetry Journal, The Road Not Taken, Mediterranean Poetry and The Lyric.  She has just finished a 4-year tenure as President of Voices Israel, a society for poets writing in English.