Lotte Kramer
Berlin
The Serbo-Croat taxi driver
Dodges through traffic to the airport,
Politely asking if the music
(Classical) is disturbing.
Berlin behind us, surprisingly
Green and bright, even friendly.
My anti-Prussian prejudice
Has slowly subsided.
The city emerges from division
And war-wounds with bits of wall
Still standing but broken like coded
Alibis of the Secret Police.
Almost uncanny, the helpfulness
Of bus drivers, officials, shop-assistants.
The new cupola of the Reichstag
Illuminates the whole surroundings
Where Max Lieberman* had lived,
Now a rebuilt handsome house.
He had his studio windows blacked-out
After witnessing the Nazi torchlight parade.
‘Unter den Linden’ spreads itself
Again in all its grandeur,
Only the coldness of the ‘Fidelio’
Production, the most glowing of operas,
Is jarring in the rebirth of this city
With its restored golden Synagogue
Dome shining across the river
As the massive black Pieta** weeps.
* painter
** Kathe Kollwitz sculpture.
Page(s) 58
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