How many synonyms for "guest"
does my mother tongue possess?
"Guest" in the archaic sense
denotes a stranger at the door
who might be god, or heaven-sent,
divine sign that a house is blessed,
or a more humble traveller
in need of sustenance and rest.
Many ancient cultures honoured
laws of hospitality, believing we are all
guests given shelter by the universe:
as birds are welcomed by the trees
and infants nest within the womb,
Earth is Succah to all species
transiting the wilderness -
blue sanctuary that teems with plankton,
rafting through vast quantum seas.
Whether we favour English "guest"
or call ourselves ushpizin, xenoi,
we are time's nomads, symbolised
by date palm, myrtle, willow, citron,
transients whose shelter is ephemeral,
whose lives are foam, lurching from
hostelry to hostelry, anger to wonder,
epiphany to desolation, without a lasting
home, worshipping in synagogue or mosque,
temple or church or shrine, children
of star-begotten destinies, passing on…
*
Xenoi - plural of xenos (Greek), meaning
both "stranger" (foreigner) and "guest"
*
Ushpizin - plural form of an Aramaic word
whose meaning parallels the Greek