To Ali Baba and the Shepherd on the Hill

To Ali Baba and the Shepherd on the Hill
I remember an old olive grove north of the tiny town of Sultana, California, where Road 104 turns right and becomes drowsy Floral Avenue at the hill. I wonder if the trees are still there. A beautiful grove it was, muscular, sacred, immaculately groomed, a restful scene Jesus could admire from a rugged stone on the grassy hill, while the snakes coiled and the buzzards circled slowly overhead, waiting for God to sacrifice his son. There were tomatoes before the turn, and oranges across the road. Greek farmers on one side, Armenian on the other. Ali Baba, the champion wrestler, held court in his house hidden from the road, rubbed the twisted backs of tired, hurting men, boiled weeds and wild herbs to rid them of disease, told stories to make them laugh and ease their troubled minds. His real name? Harry Ekizian. An Old Country legend who did two thousand push-ups a day and made cameo appearances in his seventies wearing swimming trunks and a straw hat at the bank a few miles west in Dinuba, the town where I grew up, thinking such things were normal. Now I wish they were. Ali Baba, don�t wake up. If you do, stay home, and I will bring your supper. We�ll sit in the dusk and watch the pheasants scatter, one shot of moonshine at a time. We�ll remember the old names come in anger, then walk out to the olives where they lay roaring in unmarked graves. Who knows? It might even bring a smile to the face of the shepherd on the hill. Something tells me he is up there still, crying for the strange, sad world that is man. *May 23, 2005* Previous Entry Next Entry Return to Songs and Letters About the Author	Also by William Michaelian POETRY Winter Poems ISBN: 978-0-9796599-0-4 52 pages. Paper. �� Another Song I Know ISBN: 978-0-9796599-1-1 80 pages. Paper. �� Cosmopsis Books San Francisco Signed copies available Main Page Author�s Note Background Notebook A Listening Thing Among the Living No Time to Cut My Hair One Hand Clapping Songs and Letters Collected Poems Early Short Stories Armenian Translations Cosmopsis Print Editions Interviews News and Reviews Highly Recommended Let�s Eat Favorite Books & Authors Useless Information Conversation E-mail & Parting Thoughts Flippantly Answered Questions
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