Dan Pagis  (versuri traduse din limba ebraica; cine le-a talmacit?))



Instructions for Crossing the Border

Imaginary man, go. Here is your passport.
You are not allowed to remember.
You have to match the description:
your eyes are already blue.
Don't escape with the sparks
inside the smokestack:
you are a man, you sit in the train.
Sit comfortably.
You've got a decent coat now,
a repaired body, a new name
ready in your throat.
Go. Go. You are not allowed to forget.



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Brothers


*
Abel was blond and wooly
and looked as humble
as the softest of his little goats
and curled like the smoke of the offering
that he sent up
to the nose of his lord.
Cain was straight: like a knife.

*
On an evening of mercy he happens upon
a convenient haystack.
He sinks in, is swallowed, rests.
Shhh, Cain is asleep.
Smiling, he dreams that he is his brother.


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Europe Late


Violins float in the sky,
and a straw hat. I beg your pardon,
what year is it?
Thirty-nine and a half, still awfully early,
you can turn off the radio.
I would like to introduce you to:
the sea breeze, the life of the party,
terribly mischievous,
whirling in a bell-skirt, slapping down
the worried newspapers: Tango! Tango!
And the park hums to itself:
I kiss your dainty hand, madame,
your hand as soft and elegant
as a white suede glove. You'll see, madame,
that everything will be all right,
just heavenly - you wait and see.
No it could never happen here,
don't worry so - you'll see - it could




Written in a Pencil in the Sealed Railway-Car


here in this carload
i ama eve
with abel my son
if you see my other son
cain son of man
tell him that i