POEM: First Knowledge
Image by Getty Images
Translated from the Hebrew by Ariel Resnikoff and Rivka Weinstock
Kisses to the wall
Kisses to the alphabet that hung there
& the trash-man asks me:
You still haven’t conquered
The alphabet? – No
Still no! First
Knowledge fear of heaven, in the first
Letter, aleph.
Secrets of secrets
In aleph! Kisses to the wall
There in the place where the aleph hung.
From “Shirei Malon Tsion” (“Songs from Hotel Zion”)
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