Qana, Lebanon

The usual hypocrites cry
Crime and Massacre,
and charred young bodies
are thrown into a hasty ditch;

History's tank tracks
roll over laughs and anger,
erasing color,
stopping hearts mid-beat,
and leaving pale former faces
in AP photos --

as we play swivel-chair generals,
and enjoy our hot coffee, with milk.

Therapy

Sometimes my physical therapist
pours her blonde Russian soul on me,
and rubs it in with massage cream.

As I lie there, and she works on my shoulder,
she tells me of being 38 and single.
Of her friend, to whom she says:
'You always forget, you did not come to this country for love.
You came here for money. If you wanted love,
you should've stayed in Russia'

She tells me of Russian men being intimidated by her
business-owning success,
and of Americans who are as hollow as a Russian doll --
'the harder you try to get deeper with them, the more layers of hollowness you discover.'
'You think there's depth under that polite have-a-nice-day outer layer?
There isn't.'

She tells me of being a trophy girl to a 70-year-old Greek
with colonoscopies and wrinkles in all the wrong places,
and she tells me of being too wise to want children anymore.

'Young people have children,
because they think it will make them happy. It won't,' she says
with bitter red cranberries appearing in her eyes.

'And if they think kids will help them when they're old --
think again. not in America.
In America they will stick you into a nursing home
and live 300 miles away.'

And so it goes.
Then she says "Time's up, see you next time!" smiles a wide smile,
and marches off to see the next patient.


I know what she means.

I hope I'll never agree.

Salvador Dali

There's a kid who had a big hallucination
Making love to girls in magazines.

Could anybody love him
or is it just a crazy dream?

And if I show you my dark side,
Will you still hold me tonight?
And if I open my heart to you,
and show you my weak side
What would you do?

Only a year ago?

This time last year, on the eve of the 9th of Av...

And now...



May our eyes behold
Your return to Zion in compassion,
So that Your beloved ones
may be given rest.

Straws

Often what one regrets the most
are the words that have been left unsaid,
thoughts unexpressed,
pleas not given a fair hearing.

But I wish that there were still things
that remained unspoken --

so that I could imagine saying them to you,
when I watch the balloon fly away.

The blue air-balloon

A little girl's crying: her air-balloon is gone.
People console her, the balloon flies on.

A young maid is crying: she can't find a groom.
People console her, the balloon flies on.

A woman is crying: her husband has left.
People console her, the balloon flies on.

Old lady's crying: life passed by too fast --
The balloon came back now, a blue balloon it is.


(Bulat Okudzhava)

A day of rest

In the shaking flame
of the havdalah candle,
the put-aside thoughts of the week
come back to life,
like a waking, paw-stretching, back-arching lion --

the rockets' red glare,
her crying eyes,
unrealized dreams,
and all new fears.

Shavua Tov...

Possibilities

How can a little girl -

cornered and anxious
helpless, dependent,
frightened by death and by life -

become a Woman of Valor?

Destruction

It is a famous cliche
that it takes a moment to destroy
what you spent a lifetime building.

Sometimes,
it takes more than a moment.
Sometimes it takes a premeditated decision,
a deliberate plan carried out with all the good intentions.

But when the "the-only-smart-thing-to-do" plan becomes reality,
it creates only a swallowing earth and
something wonderful lost,
perhaps forever.


If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again.

Hearing Voices

This story from last year deserves a bump....



Zidane says mysterious voice guided his comeback decision

PARIS, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Zinedine Zidane says a mysterious voice inspired his decision to play for France again.

"One night, at three in the morning, I woke up suddenly and then, I talked to someone," Zidane tells French magazine France Football in an interview to be released on Tuesday.

"That person really exists but it all comes from very far. And then, during the hours that followed, I took the decision to come back".

The three-times World Player of the Year, who won the World Cup in 1998 and the European championship two years later, had announced his retirement from international football after Euro 2004.

The 33-year-old's comeback decision came as surprise after he had said several times over the past few months that he would not change his mind.

"I was dumbfounded before that force that was guiding my behaviour and I had something of a revelation," Zidane told France Football.