Local Flora
The Israeli Oak
is Israeli. The Gilboa Iris
grows exclusively on Mount Gilboa:
not just any tree or any flower
but distinctively native. Indeed
the Israeli Oak (Pistacia Palaestina)
and the Gilboa Iris (Irus Haynei)
are from a world view, nearly
unknown, and as to the specificity
of their locale, that has borne
dire consequences: on the Gilboa,
that day most likely extravagant
with irises, King Saul fell
onto his sword, suffering mightily
until the young Amalekite slew him,
and while riding under the boughs
of a great oak, Absalom and his
abundant hair became entangled
in a terrible trap of love
from which there was no letting go.
History
You talk to me about History: tombs
of kings take on dusk's saffron robes
and the skin of the land peels off
bones of rock, erodes to the sea.
You keep on talking about History: haze presses down
on us like an oxygen mask and already I can't tell
whether these are ripened oranges rolling on the ground
or shrunken, decapitated, amber heads.
When There Is Light
When there is light, light
casts memory of skin behind
the eyelids. In the dark
everything is disclosed.
A child of light turns
into a child of darkness.
Tunnels open, no flicker
of light at the end. Now
it is possible to hear
fingers of fern soothe
the stricken irises,
a heart breaking in love.
Rites
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