Two Homelands Poem by Marianne Soher

The Avila mount arise
Above the bright golden beaches
Of my Jewish Tel Aviv
And I no more can discern
Whether the green is Galilean
Or from Venezuelan plains

The shrill humming of the streets
Speckle my nomadic steps.
I keep seeking synagogues
Along the streets of Caracas
And the little Christian churches
Are so few in Tel Aviv

Those are the same indigents
And I walk the same street corners
The same sun shines them all over
And the same sweet morning dew
Hints at a brand new day
In Tel Aviv and Caracas

In both markets I can sniff
The condiments and fine herbs.
The same scents of rosemary
Sage and parsley, and cilantro
Augurs hot soup in Caracas
And Friday meal in Tel Aviv

And those two twins are like daughters
I often confound their names
And when I melt into darkness,
While into my dreams I merge
Both the mountain and the sea
My heart’s home has no clear name.

When dark night invades my sunsets
And my mornings become shadow
My lingering motions find
Their hidden spaces within
And my aged body forgets
The feverish pace of life

My being becomes ever lesser
And the planet ever smaller.
My spaces then become wider
Leaving behind all the bends,
Bulges and gloomy cliffs
Along the pathways of time

And my twins forever coupled
Clinging to my weary hands
From both extremes of my life
Keep tearing apart those loves
- Far apart and yet so linked =
That coined my life’s destinies.

Oy! I do have two hearts
Owned by a single soul

And I have but one short life
To fulfill my rival dreams!