Jewish Man and Other Songs

About the Book

The following poems are prayers and songs. Except for “Cuba Errante,” which is a plea to the Mother of God to intercede for the difficult plight of Cubans both at home and abroad-- these songs are meditations based on biblical passages and themes. I call them poetic icons because, like the ancient pictorial icons of our Judeo-Christian heritage, the intent of these poems is also, first, to focus the attention of the reader into the scene that is being depicted, in order to see the presence of God at work in that particular scene and in its characters; second, the intent is to help readers catch a glimpse of the divine presence and warmth that illuminates each particular scene. Third, as is the case with sacred pictorial icons, it is also the intent of these poems to help readers in the present time identify with the struggles of those ancient biblical characters, and with the way the Spirit of God is still at work now in each of the readers that contemplate these scenes. I was inspired to write some of these poems in English; others, in Spanish. In some cases, I made the effort to make the poems available in both languages. Thank you for your patience with the bilingual nature of this collection. Is there music to these songs? Yes, and it is our hope to make it available to you in an ensuing publication. Thank you again!

About the Author

Beatrice Heath Tomlinson grew up in Guatemala, the daughter of an American businessman and a Colombian mother. She has lived in the Southeastern United States ever since she attended college in North Carolina, from where she eventually obtained a doctoral degree in Spanish and French at UNC- Chapel Hill. She lives with her husband, daughter, and two dogs in Northwest Alabama, where they keep a highly itinerant schedule as they travel, for her husband’s job, in an RV all around the state, and beyond. Never far from her Catholic roots, devotions and traditions, she has tried to delve deeply into the shared Judeo-Christian spiritual heritage that is at the core of our Western Civilization, in order to sing these new songs of hope and reparation for what now seems to be this civilization’s finest hour.