The Dream City (Iris Dan)

The Dream City

(Jewish girl’s dream about venturing out of the ghetto into the City of Worms)

                                                                                                

And from the fog of no-man’s-land

I found myself

In the walled city

Which was round and red and garish.

                        

People were staring at me

Or not seeing me at all

So I stuck to the walls.

(I know by now quite well

The feel of the walls of this city.)

From this vantage point I saw

Jugglers and jesters

Fallen angels and witches

Children crushed under horse hooves

Puddles of horse piss

Fingers deftly filching purses

Broken veins on sun-scorched faces

Sores on beggars’ legs

And yellow malevolent eyes

Staring at me

Not seeing me at all

And I saw

The vast building from the height of which

Devils were hissing at me

And where a black-clad man

Wanted to catch me

In the crook of his cane

But first and foremost I saw

The baker’s apprentice,

Still hot from the oven,

His sweaty face encrusted with flour and sugar,

Pushing a cart full of cakes and yelling

Lebkuchen, Lebkuchen*!

* German honey cake. The word translates as "Cake of Life"

(First published in "Voices Israel" 2008.

Comments

[aurora]

Fantastic capture, Iris.

[Jennifer]

Great work.

[Robert]

Enjoyed.

[Iris Dan]

Thank you all, dear friends.

[Bryan]

Wow, great poem. The ending really does it for me.

[David]

Clever concept and delivery, Iris.