Friday night in
Tel Aviv one block from the sea
After forty
years here I am back in Israel
Watching the
red sun set west into the Mediterranean
It’s hot here,
also lovely. This Sabbath night
I’m heading for
the sea
This Tel Aviv
is a modern hip Mediterranean city
The streets are
safe enough, I see
For women to
walk here and there alone in the dark
It feels both
strange to be here, and home again also
12:30 at night
I’m walking down to the beach
(5:30 in the
afternoon back in Virginia)
Okay, here I
am (he-nay-nee) send me, use me
Gentle waves
rolling in loud, standing in the sound
A cool summer
breeze blowing over soft sand
Batches of grey
beneath a dark blue night sky
The taste of
eons, timeless time
Beyond history,
beyond names and countries
And newspaper
headlines -- just this open sea
Out there is
Africa and Europe, Turkey, Italy and Greece
Egypt, Spain
and Morocco. When I was a young Navy frogman
I used to swim
in these waters. Now I’ve come back
To this holy
land on another octave. O my God
Let me be a
clearing for peace, an ocean of love and light
