Sunset in Boston

( Published in Ibbetson Street Press, June 2007)

In September, rainless,
sunsets turn the clouds
watching over Jerusalem
into red cotton candy –
not just a cloud or two
but the entire sky bursts into fire
and the buildings of indigenous limestone
become golden with satisfaction

Here it is, September again,
Boston this time,
the sun sighs and sets
in a benign sky –
a dash of yellow
a smudge of blue
a flash of pink –
almost as if an afterthought,
and the sun sinks, gone,
into the numerous lakes and rivers
reflecting now joggers, rowers,
hikers and a huge orange moon

Only the moon and poets
recall Jerusalem

© 9.2006 Helen Bar-Lev