The Water Man

Shulamit Sapir-Nevo

The Water Man

Translated from Hebrew by

Mel Rosenberg

Ramot Publishing,

Tel Aviv University, 1994

Gulls Made Love

Gulls made love

on the water

I heard the sea

pass gently

between them

even the surrounding sands

held off the while.

The Water Man

My water man

passes among the sleeping

corals

and rubs them with his palms

until he shows their true color

he knows no rest

until he uncovers

even the most modest among them

I send him

a school of curious fish

searching out his slippery organs

with tiny bites of

amazement

My water man knows no fear

even when the air is gone from his lungs

he makes love

to me.

The Milky Way

The wine I gave up long ago

The music too

And the only light on in my room

Is the blue one

Every evening

Out of habit

Almost like the moon outside

And seeing it has about the same effect

I forgive

Provided that you are the night

Climbing the milky way.

Raincolors

When I fall asleep

in raincolors

and your hand passes raindrops

in my sleep

the sounds will bloom.

He Did Not Know

He did not know

That a woman loved him all night long

The next day a careful hand

Fluttered across his cheek

Her eyes full

Her voice rain

He did not know

That a woman loved him so

Each night

Tearing him from sleep

Gathering darkness from darkenss

And coming with a shout into his body.

How

How will you manage alone

He asked at the door

I will be like the frozen sea

No streams coming or going

within.

End of July

What is this temor grasping

the end of July

bowing the oak

even the moonlight has lost its way

What is this tremor passing by

and the wine trees swaying before me.

Fallow

Fields free of furrows

grow what they will.

Gesture

My voice does not do justice

to this soft gesture

which the moonlight makes on my face

as the smell of wheat lusts within me.

See

Blind man,

eyes cast as stones

over an open field,

holds his small daughter

to the window pane

and tells her

“See”.

Walk-In Clinic

The window pane froze long ago

with great obstinacy it stands guard

nothing shall evaporate from here

the screams of children running from needles

to the hearts of candies

the groans of the elderly running

from sanity to pills

and potted plants that barely grow.

You are

You are fleeing swallows

in your hand a stalk

I opened a green field

For you to rest, and your fear

turning wing to root.

Ayala

Ayala

or whatever

her voice is a woodland. Her eyes

does it matter what color will be the site of his temple.

She will wipe away stains

Of my love from his body

with soft lips of honey and salt.

Ayala

or whatever

will suddenly

take him away.

Talking to Paul

Twenty years on

I’d like to see

you again

wrapped in black robes

while the moist part

of the heart

turns to stone

and on it lies a heavy cross

instead of a woman.

Quai d’Orsay

Women of Renoir

pink-skinned

their eyes

piano and forest

adorn themselves on the second floor

of an old train station.

Versailles, After the Feast

For twenty three francs

you can wander in jeans

through the nicest room

but at half-past-five

they close the mirrors.

Landmarks

A man sleeping in the room and beside him

the slumber of a soft child

her hair the smell of this week’s games

her toys landmarks through the house

on the table a crushed cellophane wrapper

and a candy melted half-way

that could promise no more

than colored sugar.

Foxes

I don’t know a thing about foxes

I see the nails through their sweaty eyes

That’s why I left

But he persists

Bringing me a ripe moon

Under its light breaking into a dervish dance

Until he falls as dead

I don’t draw near

To hear his wakened heart

As I’ve already said

What do I know about foxes?

Fairy Tale

What momma doesn’t know

is how much little red riding hood

likes wolves

meek forest creatures bore her to death

her basket brimming with sandwiches and wine

here comes the wolf

to ravish her

slowly.

Wanting to Touch Again

Wanting to touch again

for all those days

for the years I shall want.

I must preserve the light

within the cold glass lamp

to see it as a star without

touching

to see it, and knowing how once it would pass as a wick

and I the tallow

round.

Tranquil Now

Tranquil now

this boat which has landed

on the sands

and shrugged off all the water.

No longer touching the raging gales

nor gathering waves

into its body

ravaged by those wet hands pained

yet forgiving. Now

tranquil

sinking roots into

the sands.

Even Though

Tonight

the sea has closed its eyes

and hungry seagulls lick its face

you promised when I awake this morning

I will find you here even though you are sated.

Make Love

Make love to me for all the days

the days gone by the days with you

make love until I am revealed

in daylight, and in darkness too.

Make lent to me

for the abandoned, homeless

forlorn and trembling,

behold and bless

Make love to me

for the fertile and bare

do not divide

Leave nothing behind.

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