Lilian Cohen  

  

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Lilian Cohen came to Israel in 1968 from Melbourne, Australia. After a year on Kibbutz Yizrael, she moved to Haifa with her husband and raised two children. Since retiring three years ago as an English teacher at Leo Baeck Senior High School, she divides her time between Haifa and Melbourne.  She began writing poetry and short stories in 1994, some of which have been published in Israel, the States and New Zealand.  She has been a member of the editorial board of the annual Voices Israel anthology. 

  

Kinneret*

ancient cities slumber under basalt hills
that loom against the waning moon, 
fox-breath rakes the frost on poets’ graves
releasing dreams

morning prisms across the lake
grasses rustle, sifting secrets
wavelets suck at reeds

a thousand creatures
steal the sunlight
dart and skim
and walk on water

the dead smile
inside their tombs.

 
*Sea of Galilee