Architectural Elements

Elements of Arabic architecture,
each altogether suggestive
of some hidden pleasure: 
the dome of the breast;
the arch of the torso;
the minaret's preeminence;
the interplay of prurience and prudery,
revelation and concealment,
a dance of seven veils or Shaharazad’s
tales within tales.
As she herself regales
quoting another source,
both more ancient and anonymous:
"Guard thy secret from another, intrust in not;
for he who intrusteth a secret has lost it."
This from The Ladies of Baghdad.
To which the facile tongued porter
meets aphorism with metaphor:
"A secret is with me is as a house with a lock,
whose key is lost and whose door is sealed."
Thus gaining entrance to the harem,
he seduces them with song and wine
to the end - well ...
one must enter into the nautilus shell.

                                                        -Chaim Bezalel

from the book "Songs from the Territories" published by Dekel Press. To see more of the book follow this link to  Songs from the Territories