Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Yonatan Berg

UNITY

We travel the silk road of evening,

tobacco and desire flickering

in our hands. We are cordial travelers,

our eyes wide open, traveling in psalms,

in Rumi, in the sayings of the man from the Galilee.

We break bread under the pistachio tree,

under the Banyan tree, under the dark

of the Samaritan fig tree. Songs of offering rise up

in our throats, wandering along the wall of night. We travel

in the openness of warm eternity, celestial voices

announcing a coupling as the quiet horse gallops

heavenward. We travel with the rest of the world,

with its atrocities, its piles of ruins, scars of barbed wire,

traveling with ardor in our loins, with the cry of birth.

We sit crossed-legged within the rocking

of flesh, the quiet of the Brahmin, the bells

of Mass, the tumult of Torah. We travel

through the eagles of death, dilution of earth in rivers,

in eulogies, through marble we travel, through the silk

of evening, our hearts like bonfires in the dark.



אחדוּת

אחדוּת

נוֹסְעִים בְּדֶרֶךְ הַמֶּשִׁי שֶׁל הָעֶרֶב,
סְחוֹרוֹת טַבָּק וּתְשׁוּקוֹת מְהַבְהֲבוֹת
בֵּין יָדֵינוּ. נוֹסְעִים חַמִּים,
עֵינֵינוּ פְּתוּחוֹת לִרְאוֹת, נוֹסְעִים בִּתְהִלִּים, אֵצֶל רוּמִי,
בְּדִבְרֵי הָאִישׁ מִן הַגָּלִיל.
בּוֹצְעִים לֶחֶם תַּחַת הָאֵלָה, תַּחַת עֵץ הַבַּנְיָאן,
תַּחַת תְּאֵנַת הַשּׁוֹמְרוֹן הַכֵּהָה. מִנְחוֹת שִׁירָה עוֹלוֹת
בִּגְרוֹנֵנוּ, מְטַיְּלוֹת עַל קִיר הַלַּיְלָה. נוֹסְעִים
בְּנֶצַח פָּתוּחַ וָחָם, בְּנוֹת קוֹל מַכְרִיזוֹת זִוּוּגִים,
הַסּוּס הַשָּׁקֵט מְנַתֵּר לַשָּׁמַיִם. נוֹסְעִים עִם
כְּלַל הָעוֹלָם, עִם הַזְּוָעוֹת, עִם עִיֵּי הֶחֳרָבוֹת,
עִם צַלְּקוֹת הַתַּיִל, נוֹסְעִים בְּלַהַט הַחֲלָצַיִם
וּבְכִי הַלֵּדָה. דֶּרֶךְ שִׂכּוּל הָרַגְלַיִם, דֶּרֶךְ נִדְנוּד
הַבָּשָׂר, דֶּרֶךְ הַשֶּׁקֶט שֶׁל הַבְּרַהְמִינִים, דֶּרֶךְ פַּעֲמוֹנֵי
הַמִּיסָה, דֶּרֶךְ הֲמֻלַּת בֵּית הַמִּדְרָשׁ.
דֶּרֶךְ נִשְׁרֵי הַמָּוֶת, דֶּרֶךְ מְהִילַת הָאֵפֶר בַּנָּהָר,
דֶּרֶךְ הַהֶסְפֵּדִים, דֶּרֶךְ הַשַּׁיִשׁ, נוֹסְעִים בְּדֶרֶךְ
הַמֶּשִׁי שֶׁל הָעֶרֶב וְלִבֵּנוּ מְדוּרָה בָּאֲפֵלָה.

 
Close

UNITY

We travel the silk road of evening,

tobacco and desire flickering

in our hands. We are cordial travelers,

our eyes wide open, traveling in psalms,

in Rumi, in the sayings of the man from the Galilee.

We break bread under the pistachio tree,

under the Banyan tree, under the dark

of the Samaritan fig tree. Songs of offering rise up

in our throats, wandering along the wall of night. We travel

in the openness of warm eternity, celestial voices

announcing a coupling as the quiet horse gallops

heavenward. We travel with the rest of the world,

with its atrocities, its piles of ruins, scars of barbed wire,

traveling with ardor in our loins, with the cry of birth.

We sit crossed-legged within the rocking

of flesh, the quiet of the Brahmin, the bells

of Mass, the tumult of Torah. We travel

through the eagles of death, dilution of earth in rivers,

in eulogies, through marble we travel, through the silk

of evening, our hearts like bonfires in the dark.



UNITY

We travel the silk road of evening,

tobacco and desire flickering

in our hands. We are cordial travelers,

our eyes wide open, traveling in psalms,

in Rumi, in the sayings of the man from the Galilee.

We break bread under the pistachio tree,

under the Banyan tree, under the dark

of the Samaritan fig tree. Songs of offering rise up

in our throats, wandering along the wall of night. We travel

in the openness of warm eternity, celestial voices

announcing a coupling as the quiet horse gallops

heavenward. We travel with the rest of the world,

with its atrocities, its piles of ruins, scars of barbed wire,

traveling with ardor in our loins, with the cry of birth.

We sit crossed-legged within the rocking

of flesh, the quiet of the Brahmin, the bells

of Mass, the tumult of Torah. We travel

through the eagles of death, dilution of earth in rivers,

in eulogies, through marble we travel, through the silk

of evening, our hearts like bonfires in the dark.



Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère