a cemetery  with
raised stone graves
gleaming white or
painted blue to mark
the graves of the especially holy
and there also
the handful of
Jewish defenders who
prevailed in 1948 against
so they say
20 or 30,000 enemies
choosing to stay and fight
over evacuation by
British soldiers

a couple of hundred white stone
steps that zigzag their way up
the high bank of grey scree
from the cemetery

more hundreds of stairs
Intersect the Old City bottom to top
like a zipper  

not unusual to see
a large pistol
in a man’s back pocket  

the narrow streets traverse  
to and fro across the gentle
mountainside like the belt
of a robe  
crowded with artists’
tiny galleries, tiny souvenir
shops and tiny restaurants

tzitzit hang from beneath
the white shirts of the Orthodox
who walk purposefully
in black suits and
black hats
under the hot sun

small whitish stone buildings
rebuilt after each war
with roofs that are flat
or domed
but always adorned
with a solar water heater and
HVAC

during the Lebanon war
was abandoned  
because of rockets  

has no hotel
for the Birthright kids
who come anyway to get
falafel  and Kabbalah  

beyond the bullet-riddled
old British police station
and the Davidka weapon
monument
rises the mountain crown
the ruins of the Crusaders
citadel and an unnamed
bunker  

from the top
You can see
the Sea of Galilee
and at your feet
modern Tzvat
with its pretty houses,
business district and
hospital

looking back
the way we came
roofs of the Old City
are like several hundred steps
that lead down a mountain
to a cemetery

-- Tom Rubenoff