Poem
Rachel
To my Country
I have not sung you, my country,not brought glory to your name
with the great deeds of a hero
or the spoils a battle yields.
But on the shores of the Jordan
my hands have planted a tree,
and my feet have made a pathway
through your fields.
Modest are the gifts I bring you.
I know this, mother.
Modest, I know, the offerings
of your daughter:
Only an outburst of song
on a day when the light flares up,
only a silent tear
for your poverty.
© Translation: 1994, Jean Shapiro Cantu. Robert Friend
From: Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Rachel
Publisher: Menard, London, 1994
From: Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Rachel
Publisher: Menard, London, 1994
TO MY COUNTRY
Poems
Poems of Rachel
Close
To my Country
I have not sung you, my country,not brought glory to your name
with the great deeds of a hero
or the spoils a battle yields.
But on the shores of the Jordan
my hands have planted a tree,
and my feet have made a pathway
through your fields.
Modest are the gifts I bring you.
I know this, mother.
Modest, I know, the offerings
of your daughter:
Only an outburst of song
on a day when the light flares up,
only a silent tear
for your poverty.
© 1994, Jean Shapiro Cantu. Robert Friend
From: Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Rachel
Publisher: 1994, Menard, London
From: Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Rachel
Publisher: 1994, Menard, London
To my Country
I have not sung you, my country,not brought glory to your name
with the great deeds of a hero
or the spoils a battle yields.
But on the shores of the Jordan
my hands have planted a tree,
and my feet have made a pathway
through your fields.
Modest are the gifts I bring you.
I know this, mother.
Modest, I know, the offerings
of your daughter:
Only an outburst of song
on a day when the light flares up,
only a silent tear
for your poverty.
© 1994, Jean Shapiro Cantu. Robert Friend
From: Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Rachel
Publisher: 1994, Menard, London
From: Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Rachel
Publisher: 1994, Menard, London
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