A Modern Psalm

And I after them from beyond the furnace
 : : :to the broad wall stood
And sang without cymbal nor psalter
 : : :after David, Asaph and their sons.

The lute's long stilled and the timbrel
 : : :but tho' the stones crush,
Thru them
 : : :fountains of green still gush.

David hid in these caves from Saul
 : : :midst lion stench where Shulamit
Cries for her lover, the green
 : : :hair from the black sweating face

Of rock
 : : :where a water-cooled chair is carved
Where one sits: a balding head
 : : :on well-muscled shoulders and back.

Further up my nephew and neice
 : : :leap to the beat of an older
Music: the roaring spray
 : : :of the falls at En-Gedi.


© Dan Goorevitch, 1994