The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (30 page)

#14, line 11
,
Rachel-weeping-for-her-children:
Jer.
31:15.

#14, line 13
,
Degania:
The first kibbutz (collective settlement) in Palestine, established 1911.

#27, lines 6 ff.
,
rattles, palm branches, matzohs, Havdoleh box:
Jewish ritual objects for use on holidays and the Sabbath.

#31, line 7
,
cholent:
Traditional stew for the Sabbath noon meal, left in the oven to cook overnight.

Songs of Continuity

line 3
,
Me’ah She’arim:
A section of Jerusalem inhabited by Ultra-Orthodox Jews, typically dressed in the black gabardines of the medieval European ghettos.

line 4
,
A dead body:
Ultra-Orthodox Jews object, often violently, to what they consider the desecration of the dead.

I Walked Past a House Where I Lived Once

line 17
,
the Book of Life:
Jews pray on the High Holy Days to be inscribed by God in the Book of Life for the coming year.

Advice for Good Love

line 10
,
Samson took honey from the lion’s carcass:
Judges 14:5-20.

You Mustn’t Show Weakness

line 16
, Balaam: Numbers 22-25.

“The Rustle of History’s Wings,” as They Used to Say Then

line 11
,
the Jewish name of my ancestors:
Pfeuffer.

line 12
,
a proud Hebrew name:
Ami-chai
means “my people lives.”

1978 Reunion of Palmach Veterans at Ma‘ayan Harod

title
,
Palmach:
The commando units of the Haganah (Israeli underground army), which played a major role in the 1948 War of Independence.

There Are Candles That Remember

line 1
,
candles that remember for a full twenty-four hours:
The
yahrzeit
candle, lit on the anniversary of the death of a close relative.

On the Day My Daughter Was Born No One Died

line 3
,
kohanim:
See note to “Travels of the Last Benjamin of Tudela,” p.
186.
Kohanim
who are Orthodox still observe the ancient law that prohibits their coming into contact with a dead body (see Lev.
21:11).

A Child Is Something Else Again

line 18
,
A child delivers you from death:
See Prov.
10:2, “Righteousness [Heb.
charity] delivereth from death.”

When I Have a Stomachache

line 11
,
the Vision of the Chariot:
Ezek.
1.

I Feel Just Fine in My Pants

line 2
,
the Arch of Titus:
See note to “Elegy,” p.
186.

Jerusalem Is Full of Used Jews

line 3
,
And the eye yearns toward Zion:
A line from “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”), Israel’s national anthem.

An Arab Shepherd Is Searching for His Goat on Mount Zion

line 10
,
Had Gadya:
“The One Kid,” a Passover song in which “the goat that Daddy bought” falls prey to a cat, which is bitten by a dog, which is beaten by a stick, and so forth.

A Great Tranquillity: Questions and Answers

title
,
Questions and Answers:
Refers to the
Responsa,
written replies by learned rabbis to questions in all matters of Jewish life.

1924

line 18
,
May you find lasting peace:
Echoes a line from the funeral prayer “El Malei Rahamim” (“God, Full of Mercy”): “Grant perfect rest beneath the wings of thy Divine Presence.”

What a Complicated Mess

line 23
,
Soltam:
Israel’s leading manufacturer of steel goods.

Almost a Love Poem

lines 8-9
,
mameh, tateh:
Yiddish for Mommy and Daddy.

line 11
,
Hanaleh:
Yiddish diminutive of Hana, the name of Amichai’s wife.

History

line 8
,
A great man;
line 10
,
A wise man;
line 13
,
A man who is content:
These lines play on familiar proverbs.

The Real Hero

line 1
,
The Binding of Isaac:
Gen.
22.

line 7
,
shofars:
See note to “Not Like a Cypress,” p.
185.

Try to Remember Some Details

line 22
,
Korah:
Num.
16.

My Mother Died on Shavuot

line 1
,
Shavuot:
The Feast of Weeks, a Jewish holiday in late spring.

line 2
,
the Counting of the Omer:
The period of 49 days from the second day of Passover through the day before Shavuot.

Late Marriage

lines 21-24
,
The voice of the bridegroom .
.
.
the cities of Yehuda:
Jer.
7: 34: “From the cities of Judah (Heb.
Yehuda) and the streets of Jerusalem .
.
.
the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.”

North of Beersheba

line 7
,
Shema Yisrael:
“Hear, O Israel,” Judaism’s affirmation of faith, proclaiming the unity of God (Deut.
6:4).

I Guard the Children

line 29
,
Ashmedai:
Asmodeus, an evil spirit, chief of the demons in rabbinic legends.

Sandals

line 4
,
tefillin:
Phylacteries (two small boxes containing scriptural passages, fastened with leather straps to the arm and forehead during morning prayers, in fulfillment of Deut.
6:8).

The Course of a Life

line 32
,
sandak:
A relative or close friend of the family who holds the infant on his lap during the ceremony of circumcision.

Yom Kippur

line 18
,
Open the gate to us:
From the Ne’ilah service at the end of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when the gates of prayer are said to close.

The Shore of Ashkelon

line 7
,
Peace, peace to the near and the far:
Cf.
Isa.
57:19.

We Did What We Had To

line 19
,
Without end, to no end:
An ironic reference to the last line of “Adon Olam” (“Lord of the Universe”), a popular synagogue hymn which refers to God as “without beginning, without end.”

line 21
,
Remember, O God:
From Yizkor, the memorial prayer for the souls of departed relatives.

line 24
,
Dew and Showers, He Who Brings Rain:
Prayers recited in the synagogue in spring/summer and fall/winter, respectively.

Acknowledgments

We have been very fortunate in our collaborators on these translations.

Stephen Mitchell worked with Chana Kronfeld, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley.
She compiled a preliminary list of the poems she felt were strongest and most representative; then read through these and others with him, word by word, explaining nuances, ambiguities, and allusions; and finally, with great sensitivity and meticulousness, reviewed his drafts and made many useful suggestions.

Chana Bloch worked closely with Ariel Bloch, Emeritus Professor of Semitic Linguistics, University of California at Berkeley, who brought to this project his critical acumen, his impressive knowledge of the Hebrew language, and his sensitivity to the nuances of English.
He read each poem with her in Hebrew and offered rigorous criticisms of her English versions; in preparing the forty new translations for this edition, he was a generous collaborator.
She is also indebted to Yehuda Amichai, who graciously went over the translations for the 1986 edition with her in Jerusalem and reviewed the new ones, and to Chana Kronfeld, whose subtle and incisive comments reflected her unsurpassed command of Amichai’s work.
Finally, she wishes to thank Anita Barrows, Shirley Kaufman, and Stanley Moss, who offered many helpful suggestions.

Index of Titles

Advice for Good Love,
119

All These Make a Dance Rhythm,
132

Almost a Love Poem,
153

And as Far as Abu Ghosh,
33

And That Is Your Glory,
11

Arab Shepherd Is Searching for His Goat on Mount Zion, An,
138

As for the World,
29

At the Beach,
175

At the Maritime Museum,
157

At the Monastery of Latroun,
115

At the Seashore,
150

Autobiography, 1952,
2

Autumn Is Near and the Memory of My Parents,
176

Autumn Rain in Tel Aviv,
152

Ballad in the Streets of Buenos Aires,
90

Ballad of the Washed Hair,
20

Before,
33

Beginning of Autumn in the Hills of Ephraim,
178

Between,
173

Body Is the Cause of Love, The,
162

Box, The,
145

Bride Without a Dowry, A,
98

Bull Returns, The,
55

Child Is Something Else Again, A,
133

Children’s Procession,
20

Course of a Life, The,
170

Diameter of the Bomb, The,
118

Dice,
153

Dog After Love, A,
98

Ecology of Jerusalem,
136

Elegy,
58

Elegy on an Abandoned Village,
42

Elegy on the Lost Child, The,
43

End of Summer in the Judean Mountains,
140

Eternal Window, An,
130

Eve of Rosh Hashanah, The,
122

Evidence,
169

Fall in Connecticut,
167

Farewell,
31

Fields of Sunflowers,
181

First Rain on a Burned Car,
181

Flock of Sheep Near the Airport, A,
152

Forgetting Someone,
128

For My Birthday,
15

From the Book of Esther I Filtered the Sediment,
124

Gifts of Love,
90

God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children,
1

God’s Hand in the World,
10

Greatest Desire, The,
172

Great Tranquillity: Questions and Answers, A,
142

Half-Sized Violin,
143

Half the People in the World,
14

Hamadiya,
150

Here,
41

History,
156

Hour of Grace, The,
146

Huleikat—The Third Poem About Dicky,
179

Ibn Gabirol,
6

I Feel Just Fine in My Pants,
135

I Guard the Children,
165

I Know a Man,
173

I Lost My Identity Card,
148

In a Leap Year,
103

In a Right Angle: A Cycle of Quatrains,
27

Inside the Apple,
164

Instead of Words,
89

In the Full Severity of Mercy,
38

In the Garden, at the White Table,
123

In the Middle of This Century,
30

In the Morning It Was Still Night,
133

In the Old City,
136

I’ve Already Been Weaned,
123

I’ve Grown Very Hairy,
97

I Walked Past a House Where I Lived Once,
117

Jacob and the Angel,
40

Jasmine,
154

Jerusalem,
32

Jerusalem Is Full of Used Jews,
135

Jerusalem, 1967,
47

Jerusalem, 1985,
169

Jews in the Land of Israel,
87

Kibbutz Gevaram,
155

Last Word Is the Captain, The,
145

Late Marriage,
163

Letter, A,
102

Letter of Recommendation, A,
101

Like the Inner Wall of a House,
96

Look: Thoughts and Dreams,
7

Lost Objects,
128

Love Is Finished Again,
140

Love Song,
97

Luxury, A,
55

Man in His Life, A,
158

Man Like That on a Bald Mountain in Jerusalem, A,
121

Mayor,
35

Mutual Lullaby, A,
104

My Father in a White Space Suit,
100

My Mother Comes from the Days,
159

My Mother Died on Shavuot,
161

National Thoughts,
57

Near the Wall of a House,
126

1924,
143

1978 Reunion of Palmach Veterans at Ma‘ayan Harod,
129

North of Beersheba,
164

North of San Francisco,
166

Not Like a Cypress,
12

Now in the Storm,
59

Now She’s Breathing,
160

Now the Lifeguards Have All Gone Home,
125

Of Three or Four in a Room,
12

On Mount Muhraka,
148

On Some Other Planet You May Be Right,
151

On the Day I Left,
101

On the Day My Daughter Was Born No One Died,
131

Orchard,
162

Pace Like That, A,
144

Parents Left the Child, The,
139

A Pity.
We Were Such a Good Invention,
57

Place Where We Are Right, The,
34

Poem for Arbor Day,
39

Poems for a Woman,
17

Poem Without an End,
142

Precise Woman, A,
154

Psalm,
91

Quiet Joy, A,
104

Real Hero, The,
156

Relativity,
141

Resurrection,
35

Ruhama,
179

“The Rustle of History’s Wings,” as They Used to Say Then,
128

Sandals,
168

Sea and the Shore, The,
176

Seven Laments for the War-Dead,
92

Shore of Ashkelon, The,
180

Six Poems for Tamar,
4

Smell of Gasoline Ascends in My Nose, The,
3

So I Went Down to the Ancient Harbor,
124

Song of Lies on Sabbath Eve, A,
138

Songs of Continuity,
115

Songs of Zion the Beautiful,
105

Sonnet from the Voyage,
21

Sort of an Apocalypse,
10

Statistics,
146

Such as Sorrow,
32

Summer Begins,
149

Summer Evening in the Jerusalem Mountains,
174

Summer or Its End,
36

Sweet Breakdowns of Abigail, The,
99

There Are Candles That Remember,
131

Threading,
59

Through Two Points Only One Straight Line Can Pass,
13

To a Convert,
99

To Bake the Bread of Yearning,
56

To My Love, Combing Her Hair,
117

Too Many,
39

Tourists,
137

Travels of the Last Benjamin of Tudela,
60

Try to Remember Some Details,
158

Two Disappeared into a House,
173

Two Photographs,
16

U.N.
Headquarters in the High Commissioner’s House in Jerusalem, The,
1

Visit of the Queen of Sheba, The,
21

Way It Was, The,
88

We Did What We Had To,
182

We Loved Here,
8

What a Complicated Mess,
147

What Kind of Man,
171

When a Man’s Far Away from His Country,
121

When I Banged My Head on the Door,
118

When I Have a Stomachache,
134

When I Was a Child,
6

When I Was Young, the Whole Country Was Young,
116

Wildpeace,
88

Yehuda Ha-Levi,
5

Yom Kippur,
177

You Are So Small and Slight in the Rain,
120

You Can Rely on Him,
126

You Carry the Weight of Heavy Buttocks,
119

You Mustn’t Show Weakness,
127

You Too Got Tired,
34