SPINOZA, IRENE, LENSES
My friend Irene had a real fur blanket
big enough to cover both of us
when we pushed our cots together
at summer camp.
It was rescued from Berlin by her parents,
forced to flee in ’38.
Alone now and cold as the snow
where many years ago I lost a silver bracelet
sledding in Central Park with Irene,
I think of Spinoza the Lens-Grinder,
expunged in 1656 by the Amsterdam rabbis
for favoring reason over faith,
a daring break from Jewish tradition,
which might upset the good Burghers
who welcomed Jews forced to flee
Portugal and Spain,
doctors, philosophers, bankers–
as long as they kept their distance.
Bento, the name Spinoza preferred,
continued to celebrate reason
all the while grinding
the finest of lenses. Sharp enough
to find Irene, her blanket,
the bracelet, at least to hone
memory’s edges.
[van hier]
