Storage Space: A Collection of Contemporary Verse by Darren A. Stein - HTML preview

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Bird Watching at the Western Wall

There are small birds which live between the cracks of the Western Wall—
Tiny sparrows that dart, from behind the weighty clumps of Shikaron plants, to unseen hungry families in their nests. Outside, black swallows swoop back and forth in some arcane dance, pausing every now and then to cling upon the rocks for rest.

Watching them, I often wonder, Are these birds holy? Do they absorb something from the stone in which they live? Are these bricks holy, or merely old?

 

And does God notice the hypnotic sway of the

 

Swallows as they weave in rhythm to their avian song?

 

I have glimpsed a rare white dove perched briefly

 

on the wall, only to be driven off by common pigeons who peck and scratch and defecate upon its sacred edifice.