MORE JERUSALEM POEMS
"The particular and the universal in Judaism are intertwined."
-- Prof. Harold Fisch
-- Prof. Harold Fisch
Festive Nights in Jerusalem
A flute’s shadow on the Old City walls,
two guitars, a drum and ethereal melodies;
Hasidic songs played on oud
high on the window ledge within Jaffa Gate.
An eclectic blend of keyboard, violins and Indian bells
near ancient olive trees in David’s City
where lights paint the rock-face red
and where figs and lavender lace the air.
Jerusalem enchanted.
A flute’s shadow on the Old City walls,
two guitars, a drum and ethereal melodies;
Hasidic songs played on oud
high on the window ledge within Jaffa Gate.
An eclectic blend of keyboard, violins and Indian bells
near ancient olive trees in David’s City
where lights paint the rock-face red
and where figs and lavender lace the air.
Jerusalem enchanted.
This poem first appeared in The Deronda Review,
under the title "Succot Nights in Jerusalem," Fall-Winter 2007
under the title "Succot Nights in Jerusalem," Fall-Winter 2007
Jerusalem’s Midsummer Nights
Darboukas and ouds on Old City rooftops,
jazz saxophone and keyboard in Mamilla’s new mall,
Latin American xylophone and charango in Safra Square,
self-playing bells, harp and pipes within the Citadel –
all open-air on midsummer nights.
Under yellow lights
Herodian stones glow.
A Crusader arch turns from purple to pink.
Ottoman walls are decked with blue and white lights –
Music and magic
in Jerusalem.
This poem first appeared in The Deronda Review,
under the title, "Jerusalem, Summer 2007," Spring Summer 2009
under the title, "Jerusalem, Summer 2007," Spring Summer 2009
On the Old City Rooftops
Under a pale embryo-moon,
on a ledge on the rooftops
surrounded
by the Lutheran Church spire,
the black-domed Sepulcher,
the golden Dome of the Rock,
and the Jewish Quarter’s clean stone,
three young men sit,
their raised voices,
their melodies,
stampeding Heaven.
Jerusalem applauds.
This poem appears in Jerusalem Awaking by Ruth Fogelman
Before Dawn In The Jewish Quarter
5.30 a.m., I slip out the door,
past cats patrolling the silent alleys,
past a kitten slinking under a closed gate,
past the square, whose trees shelter sleeping birds,
through tunnels and arches where echoes now slumber,
down the steps
to see the morning star above the Mount of Olives
more brilliant than a scepter’s gem.
I stretch out my hand
to touch the silence
delicate as a lace curtain
dawn will blow aside.
This poem first appeared in The Deronda Review
Dawn at the Western Wall
Dawn breaks over the Western Wall.
On the ledges, pigeons that slept
as motionless as the ancient stones,
now stretch their wings.
Sparrows land from nearby trees
and hop at my feet.
A flock of swifts flies west
towards the pale moon still high after night’s retreat.
Above my head
glide a pair of white, luminescent wings –
an angel’s – a dove’s?
At the Western Wall,
when night and light embrace
maybe
more than birds meander through the sky.
This poem first appeared in The Deronda Review, Spring-Summer 2010
