1  Now the wife of one of the “sons of the prophets” cried to Elisha: “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

2  And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” 

3  Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 

4  Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.”

5  So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 

6  When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 

7  She came and told the Man of G-d, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

(Melachim B, Chapter 4: 1-7)

Take, my daughter

One large bowl

And ask

And cry

And you will be given the best wishes of your heart

And all your vessels

Will be filled with light

Dear light

Your prayers and tears

Reflected

In abundance which

Could not

and will not

Stand up from the full

And live-

Between the sold and the left

In the exact balance

Between the hidden and the miracle.