Last Day in Prague

Image: PD — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Jewish_Cemetery,_Prague#/media/File:Old_Jewish_Cemetery,_Prague_047.jpg

Sonnet © 2020 by Matthew de Lacey Davidson

Exiting the Metro as I walk
towards Široká, stepping by the grey
buildings, close to the medieval clock
which already I had seen (the other day),

I scurry to the entrance, slightly short
of breath. A man, yarmulke on his head,
morosely disapproves: “So sorry,” the retort,
“it’s closed — shabbat.” I understand, and so instead,

the innkeeper suggests I go next door
to see the Jewish Cemetery through
distorted stained-glass windows. Wanting more,
I buy a stereoscope so I may view

the sight, despite my doing so is crass:
a life seen through two sordid bits of glass.

Image: PD — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Astronomical_Clock_(8341899828).jpg

Image — PD in the U.S.: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knackstedt_%26_N%C3%A4ther_Stereoskopie_0782_Oesterreich,_Judenkirchhof_in_Prag,Bildseite_koloriert_Jewish_cemetery_Prague-Josefov.jpg