Poems- Tom Berman

Mother of Wheat*

They say
the Mother of Wheat,
first grew here
in Galilee
on these very hills

hills,
you wouldn't look at twice
as you speed by
on the highway

Mother of wheat
softening the gaunt grey rocks
in the green springtime

now it is autumn
the wild wheat plants
stand empty headed

cathedrals of thorn
stand spiky-spired
in the late afternoon sun

all is parched
waiting for rain

* The progenitor of most modern wheat varieties can still be found growing wild in the Galilee

Tom Berman was born in Czechoslovakia and grew up in Scotland. He come to Israel in 1952 and is a member of Kibbutz Amiad in the Galilee. He is an acquatic microbiologist and Director of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) Limnological Laboratory.