Some things look better at night –
placed to optimum advantage
on the red granite windowsill,
the Crown of Thorns, straggly in winter
with insufficient water, transforms
into an elegant, finely crafted sculpture
overlooking endless aging buildings
in downtown Cairo. A few openings
are illuminated this cold evening,
their brightness contrasting
with innumerable rectangular shapes
that fill the darkened landscape.
I think of those I know
struggling to survive in this time
of change, of great uncertainty,
some seeming to fall back on ways
destructive then and perhaps are
more so now while others look
forward to new times, to the job
that is not quite in sight
or to the baby just conceived. Even
in uncertain times miracles do
happen and as yet unnamed
infants give birth to hope.