Sevilla

Small majesties
With shiny immaculate shoes
Among the Alcazar palm trees
Jasmine orange trees and doves
Their long glossy tresses a reminder
Of distant Moorish blood
The miracle of water trickles
everywhere
Orange trees pregnant with heavy clusters
Of flesh warm fruit
Bend under those round orbs
Patos with bright orange palmed feet
Nasally demand sustenance
Varnished tiles kiss fevered skin
And one can almost remember the murmurs
Of drape-like robes
Brushing intricate floors of baked clay.
Within these enclosed gardens
A vision of Eden
I see turbaned philosophers
Strolling among doves and stars
Enjoying the sophisticate alchemy
Of merciless heat and cool shaded stones
Of a bench of painted clay
And spicy odorous tea
The warm wind is a caress
The heavy silk robes tenderness
And friendship and embrace
And a promise for the world to hold
And yet forget
Among sweaty rubicond tourists
Who goggle and oogle in wrinkled shorts
I close my eyes in the scent and sounds
That you once knew
Yours is the utterness of civilization
The ultimate tear expressed from beauty
The essence of Paradise at dusk
Such a potent drop of pure amber and myrrh
Left for us to partake
I wish to be gathered in your robes
Of camphor and musk
Adorned in jewelry from far away Orient
Or desert burnished plates of gold
Somehow the brutality of the weather
Dictated rules for life
That need not be reinvented
Humankind bowed and
Worshipped well sun and night and rain
The heirs of jews, muslims and christians
Meld with the narrow and bright architecture
Of Seville
The feat of creation is done
And will be transmitted
Freely given, like water for
A desert-parched and weary traveler
The softness, pride and violent beauty
Of centuries past course through all here
Even guests
And why should it not?
The wisdom of long ago
Was to grow a city, a garden
And an olive tree
To please the fiery gods of the land
Quick to burn, but generous of love
And tenderness
There is not much to disrespect
In their plans and cabbalistic calculations
And so their lives and philosophies
Endure
Through their city