When Golda Meir
was in Africa
she shook out her hair
and combed it
everywhere she went.
According to her autobiography
Africans loved this.
In Russia, Minneapolis, London, Washington, D.C.
Germany, Palestine, Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem
she never combed at all.
There was no point. In those
places people said, “She looks like
any other aging grandmother. She looks
like a troll. Let’s sell her cookery
and guns.”
“Kreplach your cookery,” said Golda.
Only in Africa could she finally
settle down and comb her hair.
The children crept up and stroked it,
and she felt beautiful.
Such wonderful people, Africans
Childish, arrogant, self-indulgent, pompous,
cowardly and treacherous—a great disappointment
to Israel, of course, and really rather
ridiculous in international affairs,
but, withal, opined Golda, a people of charm
and good taste.