The Smell of the Future, 8 Sivan, 4:30a.m., Jerusalem

You'd think it was the country -
Night sky moving west
To make way for dawn -
Stars out clear -
That smell of fresh earth
From new-turned fields
Coming from some where
In the chill night air:-
Far off - a bird call -
As if he couldn't wait
For the morning's early song.

I may be wrong but -
Short of life -
I'd give everything I own
To have that hour
The world I wake to
All future days - all its days long.

A New Heaven and New Earth

It's known to snow in April
Back in the States,
But by May, lawn chairs
Are out on patios, hedges are full
And summer's only a block away.
But in our Jerusalem
A cold chill persists in May -
Winds bang the door, toss trees
And I sit near the heat even by day.
O last signs of winter mingled with spring,
We are leaping out of Egypt forever -
No more will summer's heat
The rose wilt and dry -
When pear-tree blossoms fall this year,
Let it be on a new earth,
And when the rose opens,
Let it open to a new sky.

The Night on Condition

The night I'll take
When it's serene
And lamps are lit at home.
When clear the stars
In crystal space
And footsteps in the shining streets
Send up the sound of song.
When voices learning late and long
Rejoice the listening walls,
And settles night
Like falling snow -
When all abroad the world is peace.