These poems are published connected to a project supported by the DC Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs. Amy Melrose was a participant in the 2026 Jewish Poets retreat supported by the grant.

I sometimes forget

I sometimes forget that I was created
for a purpose, a purpose
I sometimes forget
that I have been called here,

said yes to the call
to be here
at this time
in this life

knowing it wouldn’t be easy
knowing I might sometimes forget

that my soul said yes,

my soul said yes
I am the one for this life.

I have been called to create,
to shine, to savor, to be a reminder
to others of their light.

I have been called
to be a light,
to be a light unto others

even in such dark times
I refuse to let
the pilot light go out
even when the wind is blowing so strongly.

I remember
I was created,
I said yes to this life.

In a dream I hear her whispering

In a dream I hear her whispering
“What you see depends on what you look for”

There are patterns in the sky,
look up and dot them together.
Each one of us, a star too.

In the night, there are moon rainbows.
Like light, refracting through a prism, bending,
like we all do, when we let ourselves.

Your symbols are everywhere
when you see them for what they are
and not just what they are pretending to be.

The snake in the tree, the synchronicity,
The playfulness of the Universe and me.

I see…

The tree from below is so beautiful,
The way the sky paints the
spaces in between the leaves
and the Tree is with me, within me,
and in the center is the star
and the Tree, Eitz chayim he,
She is a tree of life, la’machazikim bah,
for those who hold fast to her.

And when you think you know,
you may blink and forget that
knowledge is built on
wisdom and understanding.

And when we center in the mind alone
we forget to stay open – to the place
of knowing that is not the mind,
the place below the archway that says

“Open Your Self Here…”
I am the doorway to the Divine.

And the apple is not the end, it is only the beginning.
Look through the leaves and we are all trees
Rooted in the same earth
Reaching for the same sky.

And we meet together at the center.

And the wind blows through, like we all do.
When we see through the leaves and complexities,

We are all of water and earth, sun, moon and sky….
A spark of light of the Divine refracted
through this point, through this life…

And we are all carriers of light
and crosses, messages and stars…

and when we open here we see that
we are all archways and bridges
and doorways…

And the door is open.
If you choose to walk through.
The door is always open to you
If you see it.

Do you see the signs?
Do you know what to look for?

She said “What you find depends on what you look for”
Are you seeking to remember or seeking to forget?

If you are seeking to remember than you will see
that to see is our nature…and to know is our nature.

For we are meant to be like the tree
And to not be afraid of snakes.

Sometimes out of nowhere, the soul awakens

Sometimes out of nowhere, the soul awakens
as if a light has been turned on
though the bulb has always been there.
We didn’t know how to plug it in and turn it on.

In times of darkness it is even more essential
that we remember that we are light,
that we remember to plug ourselves in,
perhaps with the help of others,
and that someone knows how to help us
find the switch if we can’t find it on our own.

We are meant to be a light unto others,
to make the world a better place.

Yet the world feels so dark right now
and we may feel so unseen and misunderstood.

Yet we must remember, it is precisely
in this time of darkness that
we must remember that
We are meant to be light.

Amy Melrose is a longtime DC resident, poet and arts-lover. She grew up in Philadelphia and attended a Jewish day school from K-8 where she was instilled with a love of learning and an understanding of the power of the spoken word. She started writing poetry in her teens and moved to DC to attend George Washington University, where she received her degree in psychology. She later participated in the Transformative Language Arts IMA program at Goddard College where she focused on poetry as a tool for self expression, empowerment, healing and transformation. In the fall of 2007, she founded the events site Free in DC, which ran until the pandemic began in March 2020. Amy is a Life Coach and certified Dream Coach supporting HSPs, empaths and creatives. In the fall of 2025 she participated in the Jewish Community Mental Health Initiative’s Writers Group, which reawakened her love of writing poetry and helped her to feel less alone as a Jewish poet in a post 10/7 world.

Featured image Jules Verne Times Two, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons