LOSS
Milton's angels don't sing in the corridors
and demons do not hide in the corners of our house.
An open atlas shows me where
four rivers separate
it's fertile land - but it's no paradise:
Maimonides (*) tells me it was taken from the earth;
Other scholars say it never was here anyway.
Evening Smog. Bridal Veil. The city's wedding
with hell
I never lose sight of it.
homeless beggars pave the way
to Tel-Aviv's promenade
I hurry but we
come too late
the film began we lost
our hour-and-a-half
dream for tonight.
outside - penniless gamblers
walk beneath
the sunless dome.
"I can't understand why the wise men insist,"
I say,
" perhaps Paradise never was".
"A wise man thought like you do, once,"
You tell me as we slowly walk back home,
"He walked with his woman; It was deep deep night;
and he said to her what you said to me.
and she turned her wide eyes, and gave him a sea-blue
abyss to fall in."
You gaze at me and smile.
"And she said to him - If there's no paradise
why do you sound so sad when you say it?"
(*) Maimonides (1138-1204) was a famous jewish scholar.
In one of his books he claims that Paradise was a place
that PHYSICALLY existed on earth, but was hidden from
the world after Adam and Eve left it)
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