A Sabbath Poem (Hasidic)

      AN OLD HASIDIC POEM

      Take special care to guard your
         tongue before the morning prayer.
      Even greeting your fellow, we are told,
         can be harmful at that hour.
      A person who wakes up in the morning is
         like a new creation.
      Begin you day with unkind words,
         or even trivial matters--
         even though you may latter turn to prayer,
         you have not been true to your Creation.
      All of your words each day
         are related to one another.
      All of them are rooted
         in the first words that you speak.