Advice

"Advice (in tribute to Taha Muhammed Ali)

Fellow guides

and beginner speakers in public,

don’t schlepp your guests round

the Dead Sea Scrolls,

our archaeological treasures,

the Judaica collections

and all our Fine Art.

It’s not worth the wear and tear,

trust me on this.

Take them outside

to the Sculpture Garden,

have them pick their way past

Billy Rose’s many gifts,

over the crunchy pebbles-

Isamu Noguchi rules OK-

in the blinding sun

in the spiky rain

up the slow hill

down the snaking path

around the blank wall

(apart from its enigmatic stenciled message)

and out of sight

to find the surprising entrance

into James Turrell’s

The Eye That Sees

and there let them sit back

on the cold pink stone

arms down, faces up

in the shade

in the quiet

breathing softly

resting now,

to contemplate

the perfect square

of clear Jerusalem sky

and the clouds

flitting by"