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In the Cradle of History
| Article
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14968 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1988 |
480 Words |
| Author
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Moshe Dor
Moshe Dor is one of Israel's leading poets and president of
PEN, the writers association. Translated by Barbara Goldberg
Illustration by Mark E. Williams. |
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
...
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