The Voice

Ratson Halevi

1964

On a forgone and alien diaspora night,
Far, far in the midst of childhood,
A heavy bottomless darkness closed upon me,
Surrounding me in fear and horror.
Somewhere in Yemen in the district of Sharav,
I’m a boy gathered in the arms of night,
Deeply frightened, twisting and folding over,
Facing the infinitude of time.
Then a muffled, soft voice…
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Creator Bio

Ratson Halevi

1922–2007

Born in Taiz, Yemen, in the Jewish district of Sharab, writer and critic Ratson Halevi immigrated to Palestine in 1933 and began working in construction, work he would continue throughout his life. An autodidact, Halevi concentrated his studies on Spanish and Yemenite Jewish poetry and began publishing his own verse in the late 1940s. Halevi also translated many significant Judeo-Arabic poems into Hebrew and was a strong proponent of Arab Jewish culture.

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