THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD

We practice the most important thing in the world – some kind
of world. We are the banister we lean on,
the ground in which we sprout.
Within this room, where our mother tongue is unquestioned
we can finally be silent
Cooing like sated pigeons, cutting out and gluing words
in the childish, cheerful clutter
of a house trapped in a snowstorm.

A chain of desert islands
that’s what we are.
Shipwrecked
without ever leaving harbor.
Each on his shore, we unravel the secret of fire
invent the genius of the alphabet,
place scarecrows in our fields
to keep solitude away.

Still, now and then,
when our lungs do not betray us
we call unto each other
across the tyranny of the sea.
Drifting closer. Slowly.  Measure by measure.
With tectonic grace.

אֲנַחְנוּ עוֹסְקִים בַּדָּבָר הֶחָשׁוּב בְּיוֹתֵר בְּעוֹלָם

אֲנַחְנוּ עוֹסְקִים בַּדָּבָר הֶחָשׁוּב בְּיוֹתֵר בְּעוֹלָם