Number Four Lipow Strasse
Hey, please take a good look
at all the graffiti
covered ghetto walls over
here, where it
seems that both Schindler’s
broken heart
and his conscience still have
value and purpose ..
Oh’ and please do take a peek
at least, at number
four Lipow Strasse, while you
are passing through ..
You will note it’s still heaving,
as much now
as it ever did, back in the day ..
When ladies, with
their old, faux ermine, would
pound these
all too familiar streets, late at
night until morning ..
Some folk, are now saying it’s
too damp, cold
and dark in there, but get this ..
It’s still a far cry
from the hovels that pretend
to be hotels
falling down and into canals
by the waterfront ..
And anyway, the various scents
that come from
inside Café Alchemia are just as
inviting today
as they have ever been since
at least, the mid
sixteenth century .. and now,
on looking back,
I recall it was somewhere up
there, in a small
third floor apartment that she
turned to face me
and said, no you don’t look old ..
You just look tired
and a bit worn, that’s all, much
like this old quilt
we both lay under and these
torn curtains
and the nineteen-thirties flock
wallpaper we try to
burn to keep warm throughout
the long nights of
another lonely winter or until
we are buried
and eventually become liberated ..