Dancing Dust |
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Poems by Mollie Caird (1922-2000) |
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Survival: The Unholy Land |
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The lizard depends on speed and agility, Chameleon relies on baffling camouflage ― The saurian is older than the Syrian. The emmet depends on subduing the self To a mechanically perfect Marxist economy ― The ant is more successful than the Israelite. The wheatear, the whitethroat, the wagtail fly south To find a new season in a new hemisphere ― The birds migrate without impedimenta. Men put their hats on their heads in the synagogue, Men take the shoes off their feet in the mosque ― Then go outside and rattle off machine-guns. Reptiles distil the wisdom of antiquity, Ants have invented flawless kibbutzim ― Birds have the knack of adaptation. Does Allah weep, Adonai rend his garments? The hyena laughs, he has a full belly ― Vultures are great opportunists. 1977 The Dancing Dust and other poems, 1983 |