A Bit of the Forbidden – Poems by Shulamit Sapir-Nevo, translated by Mel Rosenberg
- Joined Jan 2014
- Published Books 79
Copyright © 2013
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.
End of July
What is this tremor 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.
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.
If you don’t ask me
If you don’t ask me to dance
I won’t show my colors
I won’t sprinkle gold
I will plunge,
In a shell –
A white pearl
Who has lost her voice at sea.
But
If you trap me
In your net of light
And ask me to dance for you
I will rise and dance
Till there is no water
Above.
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?
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.
Like the Sea
There is no yesterday
There is no tomorrow
I am sand that yearns
With all its goldness
To draw your head round,
Follow me.
So once more you will leave
And again you’ll return
To sing to my shells
As you break apart
And curl up like the sea.
You will bring unto me
All the treasures of your heart
Whisper and weep,
Rupture and rage
As you fill my vessel
With love.
Stations
I took the train.
We passed the rain station
The sand station
The sea station
But at the station
Of the heart
I got derailed.
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.
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.
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.
Raincolors
When I fall asleep
in raincolors
and your hand passes raindrops
in my sleep
the sounds will bloom.
How
How will you manage alone
He asked at the door
I will be like the frozen sea
No streams coming or going
Within.
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.
You
You are the melody
I am the words
You are the birds
I am the tree
You are the sea
I am the storm
You are the night flooding
A thousand stars
Into the depths of my body.
I am the moon in wonder at your window.
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.
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.
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.
Go Slow
Shake the cold
Winter journey
From my wings
Warmheartedly
Collect me
Promise me the sun
Promise that you will pain me
No more.
A poem of longing
If you only knew
How great the pain
Each time you
don’t
touch me
Leave the Words now
Leave the words now, they are of no use
Only your hands can heal
Only your lips can sweeten
And if I cry
Let me
Caress your heart
Until I can feel.
I became
I became a music hall
A nectar field
A sea
A storm
Spring
If you go
I will magically melt
Into sand
Pirate
I insist on being a pirate
Bent on capturing a ship full of love
For myself.
Back to the coffee
Back to the cafe
Looking at the bottom of the cup.
Maybe the pool of grounds
Will still yield
Moments of sugar.
Trailposts
I waited for you
Without knowing the year we agreed to meet
I was a skipping bird
A butterfly flouting its colours
I was even a goldfish among the seastars
If you passed by you would have seen the
Light
Color
Water
That I shed off
Leaving you as trailposts.
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.
He will dance with me
He will dance with me tonight
And I will forget that
It’s okay to be Cinderlla on a
Small island
to snatch a smile
From the face of the moon
And to hover barefoot
And beautiful.
After the rain
The rain fell there as well,
Sunflowery fields
Becoming cotton white.
The rain fell here as well and I,
What have I become,
After I was cotton
Softly rolled between your sea of fingers,
After I was laughing seeds.
Fallow
Fields free of furrows
grow what they will.
Poems by Shulamit Sapir-Nevo
translated by
Mel Rosenberg
Published: Dec 11, 2013
Latest Revision: Jul 11, 2015
Ourboox Unique Identifier: OB-1344
Copyright © 2013
