They don’t seem to be my enemy,
I remind myself,
even though they’re
tearing up the general public hill simply previous my fence
with loud equipment and
hacking with Weedwackers the wild violets
and new lavender unfold
around the hill in hen patterns.
We had watched them develop.
One employee paused
on the flare of yellow tulips, and from my window
I noticed him glance
round for a 2nd and
go away them, then go searching and
separate the small vegetation
from their stems, half-
pausing to step over them along with his boot,
leaving to complete his activity.
After they transfer to farther hills
I will be able to see it from the fitting viewpoint—
as a small, inevitable damage.
I do know this. However right here, at house, I’m left
with the damaged yellow-purple bruising and the reminiscences
of my father, who noticed
Israeli jets swoop over his space in Jerusalem and a
army helicopter hearth finger-length bullets
into the hill in his entrance backyard,
and I’m wondering what seeds will develop from this,
what subsequent yr will seem like, what kind of
hate it’s to observe issues fall aside.