Songs of Time (poetry)
Amichai, Yehuda
"IT'S SONGS OF TIME TPDJJ milT YEHUDA AMICHAI v^y oso"? Vrinn^ nasn •,aN rpa nt .vnivpa pb*rV} VVW 'O"1??? .'npnj jb-tb 'it; :|an 'n aitya .'nlK rn^ axya .'aN in .nyppa nqfla1? mnaten...
...Mother, in pain you gave birth to me, in pain lives your son...
...The average annual rainfall does not touch him and degrees of temperature will pass by him in weeping shade...
...Oh, what bar mitzvah rituals will they have, what good deeds, what wedding parties...
...Kyifi O'p'inz...
...Sons of warm wombs join the army...
...And the limit of camouflage which is also the limit of love: Instead of a cannon there grows a real tree and you become me and I become you...
...rnna in ?tjrrio ,nnnn ^3} .'flya...
...Moment/59 ypj^p n« inpK rtop innp tijjp in:ot ipp ^npn npjn nrtptpn ¦qlnai .?,»(?3 n??' n« 'plo r-Kn fcnsnn rw ?vy#n ttf nK n'jnp irlnpi j'p nxi nlDl^nn .31«k nx 3l«x npp Tilnpn tfiK'n .«rjn yjn i?p mnKqJn ]p ^j>j"rn .ni1?^ baipi ps-mi -ijjitp 'n •'is 3lrn3 tfpx 'nix nb^y nnx n^i* rnnx n^x o\by by ^tfrin .trix is 1n»3 x'V) nn»3 x1...
...D'yixjrjn Viaa /nto In .n?j n&p kjki n-}1' rj5ls nrfln olpp3 inanxn •n» — '?8i .'jx, rnn ri8i 'inijx, f* Listen, my old teacher: Life is not deep as you taught us, history and loves, Buber and Marx are nothing but a thin skin of asphalt road on this huge earth...
...Your steps on the stairs have always stayed in me, never coming nearer and never going away, like heartbeats...
...n»f i?9 Vvirn ,n^aVpi n^oVp on'j'j...
...The earthball is cooling, clouds that have never lain with a woman pass overhead in the sky, the desert starts breathing into our ears, and all the generations squeeze a bar mitzvah for you...
...rnaj -133 fa...
...D'p'nn ViD...
...Oh, my teacher, the limit of toys is so near: When a gun really kills and father is really dead...
...Copyright © 1979 by Yehuda Amichai...
...And from what was left over I pasted for myself a new Bible...
...ijim '"?3 a-]^ D1' rnip39 'jsj...
...I'm on my way from believing in God and you're on your way toward it: This too is a meeting point of a father and a son...
...71-133 npay .mrVyi nlxa^BB d'n^ipa .•gina Tan nlryjaa Tiy...
...n'pp: xby ,7'ns ypn...
...rnjyn apjr "II5' n'3 ,ip"!j?3 3^'n mx *\by nan iVx .D^rft mVys V^pa ,tnt> iipxa ri'^rj '^x .ton...
...Their eyelashes, glory of their beauty, will become a double fence, letting no one in and no one out...
...And I screamed, "Door, door...
...When you stroked my head I whispered, "My head, my head," and I whispered, "Your hand, your hand...
...iyB# D'jjy -i3"tan ,D?ai?3 u'tya onaly .irjtx t1...
...D'nn nnai ,nrn o'jiya "Kan ^na" ,n;?i?n nyaaa o'payi ?••up.^ njltfina k1...
...Door, door...
...laa .a'pcnna n1...
...o^riln oygtf nVx .^3 n*lP,y narisn ngto .o,ayp,7 .n'naib ny .n':yj xb) nan^a x> ,"739 rppji nx tjvp^a .'rnxtoato '?x bjx P3N1 nixn n>b?i to?j ngtox nnW ,3k?' rran 1^9x1 .nyjn 'nnxn 'ViaVa pai 'nipyy o^l on ,nxVn nipavi 7-1x3 .n^nVo...
...ot,k#3 .nlx'itf ,V3 njlaj ,-inV np*-ra n'toyi tajto ''S PP3 D,?W...
...It's evening now...
...pp ^xt...
...nln}m D'ipiq tly rrr la# o^ls "?y 'n^n^ '^r1...
...lafrna 13 »r k'7 Di^an Viy 'njtfn »v88n .nara Vxa i-rt> nay...
...ga| r1'HS83 .nraftpa o^1»3 b?8n b>3 rnB3i .]7V5 nnx nyon mas n?pln A bird at dawn is singing with too strong a voice prophesying a day of dry hot winds...
...A woman asked me last night in the darkened street about the well-being of another woman who had died before her time, and not in anyone's time...
...In my words there is garbage of soul and refuse of lust and dust and sweat...
...Now I live censored and pasted and limited and in peace...
...D'?W 103 .o^ly1...
...And I did not whisper, "Mother," and not "God...
...Nor did I speak of the vision of the End of Days of a world where there will be no heads and doors anymore...
...Thus, all those who were once lovers still speak the language of love, sterile and clear, never changing, and never getting any response...
...And I did not scream, "Mother" and not, "God...
...mnaten 'ytpaV npnba imajry ,laV?n ,ian^3i lan^ n,5...
...nng# 'n'js n^n...
...DTOn ,|j7}n '311 in 103 x^s ji'k op>-|9i nlaqui .rty-an np-jsn "?s "nVp #-33 V# : ^3 alij...
...Yehuda Amichai, one of Israel's leading poets, is the author of several volumes ofpoetry including Not of This Time, Not of This Place, Songs of Jerusalem and Myself, and Amen...
...moment's selection ofpoems is from Time, which will be published by Harper & Row, Publishers this March...
...o;p.n asgn n>ly a-jy nUs1...
...nnxi njiBxn ja '3-jts 'jx rit dj .rr^x i?-jt3 .1331 ax by tojpa .-i-ij?np na-jxn -ma .any Ufa...
...But I, who have stayed here, dirty my mouth and my lips and my tongue...
...And out of the Song of Songs the endless search for love, and out of the Book of Genesis the dreams and Cain, and out of Ecclesiastes the despair and out of the Book of Job—Job...
...D3njV3 ."nto ,n>T 'npyyi "¦>vfn^ .^k^" .ovfrx, ,xVi ,xijx .'np?^ th) D'97 rrinx run 'rnsx 167...
...TR 'TP," 'B^OVl ."'I'K'l ,'H>KY' .o'rftx, ,x^i ,k9k .'n^n^ x^o .DTiripjn 079i?3 Dipx-} nlot^jj 017 Kin tfrrlVi nolxi pylx '3x,# V3 .ipx'i .'ipx'i :'is?v nx DnjV •TC .177 ,nft ,nft...
...But I was torn away long ago...
...D'^n o'Drn ••33 hVk iSsft d'^pjlo rntjqi .p"-!35 dj?k...
...Those with feet kissed by mothers and aunts and with shoes decorated with buckles and beautiful buttons will have to pass through minefields...
...wjj...
...Had it stayed spread out you might have been happier, a large sheet of happiness without memory...
...Your brain is well packed in your skull, efficiently folded for life...
...i'n# .onnss rrn warm...
...Even the water I drink in this dry land, between screams and memories of love, is urine recycled back to me through complicated circuits...
...Out of great tiredness I answered her: She's fine, she's fine...
...npyy .n^!3 TpK...
...dion??} rrr ,o;p...
...TH3 'tk o'ljnpa When a man has been away from his homeland a long time, his language becomes more and more precise less and less impure, like precise clouds of summer on their blue background which will never rain...
...yikV n-riav$ -lirr...
...nraia i#x, nnxq?3 ,dj?9 Tly inlx p#j> 'V in .j\ tj...
...And I did not see wonderful visions of hands stroking heads in the wide-opening heavens...
...mya -13 My son, in whose face there is already a sign of eagle— like a daring prefix to your life, let me kiss you once more while you still love it, softly, like this...
...With his dream he earns his bread and with his bread his dream...
...an ]di m-$laa pn-in xya...
...I haven't forgotten a thing, but my life has become calm and deep like a second gulp deep in the throat, not like the first one, with sucking smacking, happy lips, not like the first one, with sucking smacking, happy lips...
...o'ln^s 'niK n^yla 'a>93 tx n3'3^3 ,'3...
...ixto...
...Then my soul makes love to me from behind, all along my back and I'm unable to return to work because of all this pleasure...
...Oh my mother, who presented me with a first welcome drink in this world: L'haim, l'haim, my son...
...nis^ ^inp .mo npl1?^ ,3113 npl1?^ I've filtered out of the Book of Esther the residue of vulgar joy, and out of the Book of Jeremiah the howl of pain in the guts...
...rh3t 'Vs ntox by a^lt...
...ni^x oy way x1...
...The plant which started to climb on it in my childhood has grown since and clings to its wall...
...nj nx arrlx nnto by -pyto ltpy rrnn Dip...
...Whatever I scream and speak and whisper is to comfort myself: My head, my head...
...Before you become a hairy Esau of open fields be for a little while soft-skinned Jacob for my blind hands...
...otoi1...
...in#3 lis...
...His sadness is combed and groomed, his happiness well dressed...
...At noon the shutters are pulled down against the burning sun...
...ptn Mp...
...nla'y...
...d'anpna This is my mother's house...
...Hebrew text is reprinted by permission of Schocken Publishing House, Tel A viv...
...Therefore, mothers, make round sons round without hard joints, make them like balls that won't get hurt, just bounce and bounce and bounce...
...When my head got banged on the door, I screamed, "My head, my head...
...Toward evening, the so-called Present Situation lifts itself up from the people and hangs up there, in one piece, like a high canopy, and the quantity of all the water in the world is turned into the quality of one tear in the eye...
...onnn i|p...
...Your hand, your hand...
...nx npuVtf...
Vol. 4 • January 1979 • No. 3
