1923–1958
Haim Gouri
1958
A
And I didn’t have time.
Now it is certain
I didn’t have time.
Half my life.
It is now allowed
To be silent.
My shadows grow
With the stride of the sun.
I am the man
Who didn’t have time.
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Creator Bio
Haim Gouri
1923–2018
Haim Gouri, poet, author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker, was born in Tel Aviv. He was a poet of the 1948 Generation and exerted a major influence on modern Hebrew literature. Gouri joined the fighting force, the Palmach, in 1941 and fought in Israel’s War of Independence. He wrote more than twenty books of prose and poetry as well as autobiographical works. From 1974 to 1983, when he headed Documentary Films, Gouri created a renowned trilogy of films on the Holocaust, together with David Bergman and Jacquot Ehrlich.
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The Sun and I
We wore each other out today
the sun and I
working in the vineyard.
The sun dropped behind the mountain
exhausted, red,
and burning hot
I was left alone.
We were both
a little overheated
today,
the…
For Years I Wallowed
For years I wallowed about in the world,Now I’m going home to wallow there.With a pair of shoes and the shirt on my back,And the stick in my hand that goes with me everywhere.I’ll not kiss your dust…
Troubadour
The road is long and wide
The road is long and resplendent
We all walk it till the very end
We all walk it until the bitter end
But I walk the road alone
I give thanks and sing Hallelujah
I sing a…
Clockwork Doll
That night, I was a clockwork doll
and I whirled around, this way and that,
and I fell on my face and shattered to bits
and they tried to fix me with all their skill.
Then I was a proper doll once…
Evening Descends
Again the herd throngs the village gateways
and dust rises up from the dirt roads.
And farther still a pair of clappers
keep pace with the lengthening shadows.
Evening descends, evening descends.
A…
God No Longer Speaks
God no longer speaks
as he did in the days of the Bible,
he no longer shines in the firecloud
over our roof.
Adam and Eve have run into the depths of the garden
from God’s unveiled presence,
as we—we…