Peres Finds His Meter

Moshe Dayan dug archaeological relics, and now it turns out that his successor, Defense Minister Shimon Peres, digs poetry, and even writes it. In fact, a poem written by Peres and recorded by the famous Israeli singer Yaffa Yarkoni, is now moving up to the top in pop songs on Israel radio.

The public did not know that Peres wrote poetry until he disclosed it himself during an interview several weeks ago. Ms. Yarkoni then asked Peres to give her one of his poems for her to record as a song. The poem he gave her was written after the Six-Day War and was about Kalya, the Jewish settlement near the Dead Sea that was destroyed in the War of Independence.

Ms. Yarkoni today presented Peres with a record of the song, “In Praise of Kalya,” adapted by Kobi Oshrat from the Peres poem. It includes such verses as: “Behind the scenes Kalya is making ready/Painting herself/ Purple for the sunset/ Grey in her meditation/Azure-blue trails her misty shores/ Her depths full of airs ablaze/Her horizons far distant. A town of refuge/Where imagination is safe/Sheltered always….Her lovers strong but unwanted/Her perfumes speak of ancient days….Lovely as a woman yet shrouded in sadness….”