CYCLAMEN
"And when it was claimed
the war had ended, it had not ended."
— Denise Levertov
They are fragile, pale apparitions
among the stones after the heavy rains,
as if to tell us, "we're back,
you have to take notice."
Rosy and white like spun sugar wings
about to take off, we let these
tremblings alert us again
to possibility.
No more than that. While the planes
roar and practice over our heads,
and we dutifully buy bottled water,
tape for our sealed rooms,
and check our gas masks.
Caught in the same efficiency
that kills. How many times?
How many times?
January 29, 2003
Jerusalem
— Shirley Kaufman
Uni-verse
Whenever there has been talk of exterminating rats, others, who were not rats, have been exterminated.
~ Günter Grass
