Sirens of the Lambs

by Yael Unterman

these are the ambulance days

the air is thick with the trails of sirens

that shriek like evil vultures

harbingers of doom

perhaps they are angels of mercy

to those whose life they save

for me

they splice through the

false sense of calm i have carefully built

sacrificing honesty and numbing living emotions

                   inside my room

and just outside my open window

Jerusalem haze, practically spring

                   trees, hopeful birds,

the first pioneer flowers out to make the desert bloom

i must now count the sirens

One - i tell myself, some old person,

                 in the reverence of the twilight years

                      after a long life, the way of the world

Two - coincidence

Three - no

i must run to turn on the TV

and turn off more of the living me

for another night of grim

unreal

reality