The Eternal Season

A poem on the anniversary of October 7

Recall a year ago when earth broke open
and a strange new season smothered the world
this nuclear blossom like no season ever came before
in horror's concentration a camp of memory unfurled.

First swept the burn of no summer Sun
then the infinite howl of no winter wind
gone went flowers or recall of what flowers were
we learned to draw small breaths but hot and thinned.

Cold a morning dew anointed southern sands
draping empty homes in white ashen shroud
outside so dark no mirror reflected forms
and the sky hung with torn black ribbons of cloud.
 
But huddled in the sightless night we few
remember voices of ours though lost not far
outside go cannibal gangs drunk with madness
but here we keep a candle and warmth of one good star.

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A friend asked me to add explainer notes below, so here they are. The poem describes the wake of October 7 as a kind of emotional nuclear holocaust. Line 4 of the first stanza describes a concentrated horror unleashing a camp (or group) of memories, and the language here is of course meant to evoke “concentration camp” and the resurgence of Holocaust memories that were brought up after October 7.

The second and third stanzas contain symbolism of Jewish funeral rites — flowers are not typically given, bodies are washed and draped with white shrouds, mirrors are customarily covered, and mourners wear torn black ribbons — except in this case, it is the earth itself that mourns.

Finally, the poem ends with a scene of loved ones huddled inside as insane gangs wander the apocalyptic landscape, a symbol of pro-Hamas types. But “we few,” meaning the Jewish people, are kept in the company of loved ones, the memory of voices lost, a candle (burned during funerals), and the warmth of one good star (the Star of David, a symbol of the Jewish people and the land of Israel).