hello again.

So this whole blog thing?

It's harder than it seems.

Especially when life is moving a thousand kilometers a minute and it's all I can do to catch my breath. Let alone pause long enough to write, to articulate this madness into words and sentences--to crystalize some meaning from it all. 

But I am going to try, I have to. 

I've never been that person who always has something to say and share with the class. Not that I don't have opinions and observations, they just take up comfortable residence in the labyrinth of my mind rather than going about their business in the open. But it's getting crowded in there, so it's time to clear out.

Bear with me beloved readers, it's going to be a long road. 

I've waited too long for a good beginning so I'm just going to start in the middle with a poem composed as a collage and synthesis of my experiences here in Israel. It is difficult to make sense of this place, but this is a start. Every morning the light looks new and things are different, full of fresh paradoxes for my infinite consideration. 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                     صباح النور

I look into dark eyes

in the dark faces

of dark old men

and I see what they have seen:

hate

malice

anger

war.

But the Sun shines on

sand sticks between toes

and sea salt bakes into olive skin

The air is filled with noise

to banish the beast of silence that 

boils under the surface.

this monster of

reality.

pain

defeat

pride.

On a silent reverent street 

cars cease--the air is heavy with the

repentant cries of a Nation.

But here,

Bottles crash, shouting burns through the stillness

insults bolt from mouths

and pierce hearts.

But coffee is shared in the morning.

The hot sun bakes the desert dry

and when it sinks defeated into the sea,

there is tea to welcome the moon

and mask the ugliness of the light.