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You’ve grown
but not
grown up
You’re ripe
as earth is raw
where roots probe deep
Like all roots
you probe
in deep darkness
Translated by Marcia Falk.
Where are the merchants who used to chase after me to purchase my favours? O malevolent Time! Nowadays, they abhor my company; when I call for them, there is no answer. How has my merchandise been…
While the translation is formatted as prose, the original is a poem of ten lines.
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…
Every day when his mind was at ease,
Relieved of the need to tell us about the countries he’d seen,
He would raise his hands high above our heads,
Appealing on our behalf before the Almighty to let…
I sinned, so Time has weighed me down with chains;
therefore I can’t attend you in your joy.
But though my chariots—my feet—are slow,
Do not refuse the wish of your anointed (Psalms 132:10).
…
Only three exits are becoming to every woman, big or small. The first is when she exits from the womb, dirtied, as if from a deep swamp. The second is when she exits from her woman’s tent and enters…
And veins web her temples,
and my father pins on the orchid,
and my card names her the best mother.
But Alzheimer’s or arteriosclerosis (the end is the same)
praises him ad nauseum,
but accuses my…
I’m no longer the man that once was. I am the one I precede,
An approximate continuation of the selfsame countenance.
I continue walking without him. At times I run in the night,
Trying to break my…
Enough of girls! I’d rather live alone
Than touch those reptiles, though they may be fair.
I’m sick and tired of wasting on the air
My strength and every penny that I own.
For once they’re mine…