JEFFREY C. ALFIER
The Valley of Vision

For Elisha Porat

'And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace?'
I Kings 19:22

Thrice did he bow himself to war, and thrice
friends became goblets of opened poppies,
blossoms floating on assailable flanks
of the mind. In desert wastes of falsehood,
his wary eye learned not to leave the son
of the stranger to be the vinedresser
lest brass be carried-off to Babylon.

Another season finds efflorescence...
mangos whisper in ungathering light.
Save for orchards and soldiers, he could laugh.