from Swirling

Dale Pendell:

 

 

(This poem also appeared in City of Bud & Flowers, A Poet’s Eye View of Berkeley, edited by John Oliver Simon, 1977, Aldebaran Review, and in Berkeley! A Literary Tribute, edited by Danielle La France, 1997, Heyday Books, and in Living With Barbarians,1999, Wild Ginger Press.)

 

The City, from a Roof on Cragmont Street

 

Over the tree tops, lying

like a silver wolf--

warm wind has blown away the smog: sun

is just behind Tamalpais.

 

This gifted turquoise crescent,

counted and cut to the square inch:

the Feather River burns here:

Hetch-Hetchy whirrs, complains.

An Old One climbs over the crest

of the Berkeley Hills, gathering acorns

with the women.

 

He pauses, sees it:

the span of the bridge,

the towers, the buildings, the lights,

a brief moment,

    shudders to himself;

thinks it must be his great age--

says nothing to the women.