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Geoff Stevens

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Uneasy Under the Cedar Boughs

(After an aquatint by Izhar Neuman, based on a poem by Dylan Thomas)

Middle aged and uneasy now,
under the cedar boughs,
the house almost tilting
from the day-long running feet of children;
I love the night, the desert quiet and starry,
and I am dowager princess
of the kibbutz towns,
painting the apple trees
of the orchards of Dylan Thomas,
famous among bards of twentieth century.
Even in Israel, where I live in the mercy
of our means to defend ourselves,
and I am herdsperson to the ‘family’ by day
and to words by night, he is known.
And I paint his youth apples,
and they are lovely.
And I write the rhythms of the rolling words
to lie down alongside them.
He is my Adam, and I once again the maiden,
the sky gathering constellations
in its black velvet.
Nothing I care for in this war-torn land,
save the translation, the brushing of words
into pictures.
Young and easy, once more, I float
in a sea whose name was once a Dead certainty
and where now time lets me play and be golden.

 

Geoff Stevens edits Purple Patch poetry magazine, is widely published and performs regularly.

Page(s) 45

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