Poem
Ariel Zinder
SONG FOR ‘ROSH HODESH’
Look: dusk is falling and with itThe terrible whispering void.
Again its presence transfixes my gaze
Again it whispers that this time the cycle
Will not be renewed.
Lock your door against the moonless lunatic,
Turn out your light and wait.
Howls will soon fill the silence,
And fingernails scraping the wall outside.
The turned-over earth will perfume your room
And a bare silhouette against the window
Will tumble into the dark of the field.
Take no heed of all that.
Stay in your room until tomorrow
When the new moon is born and then we’ll see
Our fear of the big bad void was for nothing:
Hand in hand we shall go our way
On the silvering crust of the earth.
Then we’ll know the heavens can still conceive
And there’s no need for us at all.
© Translation: 2009, Jennie Feldman
ROSH HODESH: The first day of each month in the Hebrew calendar, marked by the beginning of a new moon. The night of Rosh Hodesh is always moonless.
זֶמר ראש-חודש
זֶמר ראש-חודש
© 2007, Ariel Zinder
From: The Ships of Tarshish
Publisher: Carmel, Jerusalem
From: The Ships of Tarshish
Publisher: Carmel, Jerusalem
Poems
Poems of Ariel Zinder
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SONG FOR ‘ROSH HODESH’
Look: dusk is falling and with itThe terrible whispering void.
Again its presence transfixes my gaze
Again it whispers that this time the cycle
Will not be renewed.
Lock your door against the moonless lunatic,
Turn out your light and wait.
Howls will soon fill the silence,
And fingernails scraping the wall outside.
The turned-over earth will perfume your room
And a bare silhouette against the window
Will tumble into the dark of the field.
Take no heed of all that.
Stay in your room until tomorrow
When the new moon is born and then we’ll see
Our fear of the big bad void was for nothing:
Hand in hand we shall go our way
On the silvering crust of the earth.
Then we’ll know the heavens can still conceive
And there’s no need for us at all.
© 2009, Jennie Feldman
From: The Ships of Tarshish
From: The Ships of Tarshish
SONG FOR ‘ROSH HODESH’
Look: dusk is falling and with itThe terrible whispering void.
Again its presence transfixes my gaze
Again it whispers that this time the cycle
Will not be renewed.
Lock your door against the moonless lunatic,
Turn out your light and wait.
Howls will soon fill the silence,
And fingernails scraping the wall outside.
The turned-over earth will perfume your room
And a bare silhouette against the window
Will tumble into the dark of the field.
Take no heed of all that.
Stay in your room until tomorrow
When the new moon is born and then we’ll see
Our fear of the big bad void was for nothing:
Hand in hand we shall go our way
On the silvering crust of the earth.
Then we’ll know the heavens can still conceive
And there’s no need for us at all.
© 2009, Jennie Feldman
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