Thursday, January 21, 2010
Judean Date Palm (poem by Larry Robinson)
Judean Date Palm
The dandelion seed needs
only the rumor of rain
to open its doors
and begin to unfold.
Some seeds, like the chaparral,
are only released
by the merciless grace
of fire and smoke.
Some must travel
the labyrinth
of an animal gut
for their casings to soften.
Still others, like the olive or date,
can sleep safely for centuries
until some crushing blow
awakens the mystery within.
I like to think that,
just before those zealots,
sure of their righteousness
and unbent before the legions
gathering on the plains below,
stepped into eternity,
one among them -
a child perhaps -
savored one final taste
of the sweetness of this life.
Two thousand years later
in Kibbutz Ketura
a young palm tree is growing
from the pit of that date
dropped on the heights of Masada
to await its own rebirth.
Larry Robinson
