Tanta Tsfat
Tanta Tsfat
Yiddish brown eyes personified
temping absolute cozy communication,
LA angels had winged her to this place
where tangy olive oil hummus gently kisses
fresh baked challah,
and four white doves coo:
“love, love me do, you know I love you”
Lonely Planet guests stroll along bountiful garden paths
among prickly pear cacti in red purple bloom
and gardenias and tulips saturating the Safed earth,
while Dutch girls play 23 questions on hammocks
later retelling stories of Old Amsterdam shuls,
with German couples devoutly celebrating Anne Frank,
South Africans dreaming of Aliyah,
all this as Dylan strums his Johanna visions
through the wetted eucalyptus leaves
over tomorrow’s breakfast hot black tea with Russian sugar cubes,
tanta revisits her cherished, venerable memories,
children laughing and spilling grape juice on Passover Seder tablecloths,
smoking uncles playing pinochle noshing on sour pickles,
cousins cheating and arguing at hopscotch and stickball,
a chicken soup and lokshen Shabbos with Bubby
surrounded by walls of
1930s weathered photos of shuls and neighbors
late evening at candlelight
after toasting for Peace from Negev wine bottles,
tanta treats us to crusted maps of Lake Tiberius
with planned winter hikes along the Jordan River,
and as Calilily kisses smooch the Tsfat sky,
we are inspired further
onto a much higher ground
Safed Inn
Tsfat, Israel
May 21, 2018