LUNCH WITH JESUS ON THE CHARLES BRIDGE

Brown bagging lunch with Jesus on the Charles Bridge
the river stately and bourgeois and well behaved for now
reflecting on all the caricature artists kitsch vendors artsy crafty jewelry
wood carvings T-shirt sellers seagulls pleasure boats
was there ever a war here? what war?
German invasion Jewish extermination Russian occupation
the tourists shootin’ snappin’ clickin’ away
at me and my lunch and the statue of Jesus
a distant cousin who doesn’t mind
my eating lunch at his feet
golden Hebrew letters around his haloed head––
a prayer kadosh kadosh kadosh holy holy holy
paid for by a 17th century Jew accused of blasphemy
lucky to escape with a monument to anti-Semitism

The Dixieland band starts to serenade Jesus
with New Orleans jump and jive
real jazz kickin’ up its heels in Prague
Oh when the saints go marchin’ in
living it up on the bridge
for me and you and droves of July tourists
and one dying rabbi screaming at the sky

The saints and statues on the bridge know
it’s way too late for lunch with Jesus
too late for lunch with the angels the golem
or anyone in gloryland
but never too late for jazz
and just another gig among statues on the bridge
statues too stiff to get down with the band
warming up the crowds
too late for lunch too late for history
too late for the music of Smetana poor Smetana
deaf––like Beethoven––to his own music––
deaf like the Red Cross to the music of Terezin
played out over the river on the first day of forever
and the last day of never

The saints go marchin‘ marching into Prague
and a small voice says ask the seagulls what they know
ask the seagulls and don’t forget the swans
cruising like Bohemian bandits on the Moldau
slow and easy