I must tell you I find Tel Aviv
Drab like a side street in NYC
Afterthoughts of buildings
With air conditioners listing
Like sinking ships
A city half-baked under
A sun that exposes it to
The Moral Scrutiny of
The old bus station with
Its strip clubs and East Africans
I also must say Jerusalem
Has no analogy to my world
Yet again another city
Of low, clumsy buildings
Alone in their clusters
Looking back over the long
Blank stare of antiquity
The dead crying from lesser streets
And dumpsters in alleys
Yet in the north a breath
Of air and breath of
Cool green like my home
The sloping forgiveness
Of lush grass and
Vista of lake and palm
This I tell you
But I must say,
The long brown tail
Of the Negev
Ending in the stump of Eliat
With its glittering hotels
And fish restaurants and Red Sea
Rocks pressed up against
The dark blue water
Appear ready to fall into
That Reed Sea; uncertain
Like a child’s blocks
Perched to topple.
No comments:
Post a Comment