God’s whispers,
rose colored
(Stanisław Vincenz)
in the beginning a gardenrose colored
(Stanisław Vincenz)
in the beginning trees
glimmer as songs
little grasshoppers wrote
the tones in blue
at the end of the garden a panel loose
the morning hatching into
noon with mugwort and catchweed
he roams inside the crackle of thistles
all the way to Kimpolung Radautz
there on the hills
he names clouds creates
splendor the source in light
drunken skies of the world
Beyond the River
no Seder plate no
questions the night does not differ
from other nights
no chalice
for the prophet the stars
burnish in frost
no sea of reeds the night
five verses
black
she seeds hunger into the bitter earth
black
burrows the hunger
five verses
of bitter earthen black
leaves for life
beyond the river
five verses
dayenu
the mute
anguish of the world
March
as if the streets knew the way
as if the trees
only rested and knew where to go
as if the windows had kept all glances
as if the lilac waited the apple tree
the costumes of children
the smell of Hamentaschen
the portal the path
walls and roof still as if a house
but how would
walls and roof be a house when gardens of neighbors
wilderness when Haman the second pulled down from the doors
the writing of the world
clouds and branches in the wind
as if evening waits
for newspaper and lamp
as if the sound of rain
for news of the catastrophe—
when the train into the Pruth back then
the oxen smashed ruins of ice
horrible sight
unbearable
a human
lost their life back then
a human
stayed missing back then
Letters
from the embankments of such nights
Sara’s laughter
Jacob’s voice
green Mother Bukowina
from the embankments of such sorrow
mail from Düsseldorf
from the embankments of such sorrow
Sara’s laughter
Jacob’s voice
from the embankments of such dusk lines from New York
Reb’ Levi Jizchok in shawl and tefillin
does not stir.
from the embankments
shtiler shtiler
Sara’s laughter
Jacob’s voice
kvorim waksn do
from the embankments
shtiler shtiler
letters from Paris
The earth has folded.
Once and twice and thrice.
Merely, merely It.
from the embankments of such dusk
Sara’s laughter
Jacob’s voice
from the embankments of such silences
lines in piebald fool’s German
letters from Guangzhou
from the embankments of such stillness
Sara’s laughter
Jacob’s voice
from the embankment of such verses
mail from Naharija
One breath of god the sea
But humans are his thought.
From the embankments of such verses
Jacob’s voice
Esau’s tears
from the embankment of such sorrow
lines from the night
He stands in front of the desk. The prayer book is open,
but speaks no word.
The Bridge of Paper
we are waiting,
tell us.
(Itzik Manger)
Who carries the longing carries the burdentell us.
(Itzik Manger)
carries the genisah of burned names
who carries the unlived life
across the bridge of paper?
