The Time Has Come
to Collect Evidence
(c)
When was the last time I cried.
The time has come to collect evidence
From those who caught me at it. Some are dead.
I wash my eyes with water
To see again the world
Through a wet and painful veil. I need
To collect evidence. These days
For the first time, I have felt pangs
In my heart:
I wasn't scared. I was almost as proud as a boy
Discovering the first hair in his armpits
And his groin.
Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) Israeli
My Mother Once Told Me (c)
My mother once told me
Not to sleep with flowers in the room.
Ever since, I don't sleep
With flowers, I sleep
Alone, without them.
There were lots of flowers,
But I never had enough time.
And beloved people push off
From my life,
Like boats from the shore.
My mother told me
Not to sleep with flowers:
Don't sleep. The mother of my childhood
Won't sleep.
The wooden banister I clutched
When they dragged me off to school
Was burned down long ago.
But my clutching hands remained
Clutching.
Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) Israeli