AT THE DEAD SEA
(for Yehuda Amichai
1924- 2000)

More than the Dead Sea
searching for minerals

we will meditate
in miracles for friends

remembering each face
at a visit from all over earth

who will rise here in words
seeking songs

on your splendid guitar
sister plays a viola for peace

you uncover an Indian sitar
near the animals of the ark

we wash in a blossoming
of Jerusalem's sunflowers

eternity reaches to atone
where no nations are alien

unknown angels sing
from the darkness of hours

each of us on a journey
reaches out for water

for my neighbor too
who gazes at us on the beach

as a song bird chorus
with hidden wings

is above our wilderness
at the day's close

we polish stone at twilight
from the darkness.