<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-style: normal; font-size: 25px;">Temporary Poem of My Time </span></font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Hebrew writing and Arabic writing go from east to west, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Latin writing, from west to east. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Languages are like cats: </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">You must not stroke their hair the wrong way. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">The clouds come from the sea, the hot wind from the desert, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">The trees bend in the wind, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And stones fly from all four winds, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Into all four winds. They throw stones, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Throw this land, one at the other, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">But the land always falls back to the land. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">They throw the land, want to get rid of it. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Its stones, its soil, but you can't get rid of it. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">They throw stones, throw stones at me </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">In 1936, 1938, 1948, 1988, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Semites throw at Semites and anti-Semites at anti-Semites, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Evil men throw and just men throw, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Sinners throw and tempters throw, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Geologists throw and theologists throw, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Archaelogists throw and archhooligans throw, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Kidneys throw stones and gall bladders throw, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Head stones and forehead stones and the heart of a stone, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stones shaped like a screaming mouth </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And stones fitting your eyes </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Like a pair of glasses, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">The past throws stones at the future, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And all of them fall on the present. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Weeping stones and laughing gravel stones, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Even God in the Bible threw stones, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Even the Urim and Tumim were thrown </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And got stuck in the beastplate of justice, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And Herod threw stones and what came out was a Temple. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Oh, the poem of stone sadness </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Oh, the poem thrown on the stones </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Oh, the poem of thrown stones. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Is there in this land </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">A stone that was never thrown </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And never built and never overturned </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And never uncovered and never discovered </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And never screamed from a wall and never discarded by the builders </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And never closed on top of a grave and never lay under lovers </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And never turned into a cornerstone? </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Please do not throw any more stones, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">You are moving the land, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">The holy, whole, open land, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">You are moving it to the sea </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And the sea doesn't want it </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">The sea says, not in me. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Please throw little stones, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Throw snail fossils, throw gravel, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Justice or injustice from the quarries of Migdal Tsedek, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Throw soft stones, throw sweet clods, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Throw limestone, throw clay, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Throw sand of the seashore, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Throw dust of the desert, throw rust, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Throw soil, throw wind, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Throw air, throw nothing </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Until your hands are weary </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And the war is weary </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And even peace will be weary and will be. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Yehuda Amichai</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">(Translated from the Hebrew by Barbara and Benjamin Harshav)</div></div></body></html>