Jerusalem is a Port City

Jerusalem is a port city on the shore of the ages of ages.

The Temple Mount is a great ship, a pleasure yawl

In splendor. From the portholes of her Wailing Wall, jubilant saints

Peer like passengers. Hasidim on the pier wave

Goodbye, yelling hurrah, bon voyage. She

Is always docking, always embarking. And the fences and docks

And policemen and flags and churches' high masts

And the mosques and the smokestacks of synagogues and the chanteys

Of praise and mountain-billows. The ram's horn1 sounds out sunset: one more

Has set sail. Yom Kippur sailors in white uniforms2

Ascend between the ropes and ladders of tried-and-true prayers.

And the profits of market and gates and goldencap domes:

Jerusalem is the Venice of God.