God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children

Yehuda Amichai

1955

God has pity on kindergarten children,
He pities school children—less.
But adults he pities not at all.
He abandons them,
And sometimes they have to crawl on all fours
In the scorching sand
To reach the dressing station,
Streaming with blood.
But perhaps
He will have pity on those who love truly
And take care of them
And shade them
Like a tree…
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Creator Bio

Yehuda Amichai

1924–2000
Born Ludwig Pfeuffer in Germany, Yehuda Amichai was a poet, author, translator, and playwright. His family left Germany when he was eleven and settled in Jerusalem. During World War II, Amichai served with the British army; he also fought in Israel’s War of Independence. Amichai wrote poetry, prose fiction, children’s books, translations, and plays, often playing everyday language against that of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish liturgy. Love and war were central themes of his writing. Amichai received the Israel Prize in 1982.

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