Something darting toward me
Draws my eye
As two feet away
A hummingbird stops to hover
Drinking in one magenta-glazed
White geranium
Before taking once again
To flight.
Mexican-glazed geckos
And a grey stone frog
Glare unblinkingly into
My bubbling fountain
As suddenly the tiniest
Lizard approaches,
Arches upward,
Then disappears.
Across the yard
Long straight leaves
Fan out with stems mingling
In their midst:
Yellow tinged white flowers
Flutter in the breeze
Like butterflies
Floating and soaring skyward.
Today is so tranquil, so peaceful,
So quiet here in my California yard.
Thousands of miles
From the conflict and death
Playing out in the country of my heart.
Yisrael, with open heart I lift my hummingbird,
My gecko, my garden up to you,
Along with my prayers: endless, eternal.
