Mantis 20 (Spring 2022)
Retrospective
Eli Eliahu
translated from the Hebrew by Vivian Eden
ולו ללילה אחד
דָּבָר לֹא תִּזְכְּרִי מֵהַלַּיְלָה הזֶּה.
לֹא אֶת עֲרִיסַת זְרוֹעוֹתַי
שֶׁנָּשְׂאָה אוֹתָךְ, כְּפִי
שֶׁהַקּוֹל נוֹשֵׂא אֶת הַהֵד,
לֹא אֶת הָעַקְשָׁנוּת
הָאִלֶּמֶת שֶׁל רַגְלַי שֶׁצָּעֲדוּ
עַל פְּנֵי הַחֶדֶר בִּדְבֵקוּת
שֶׁל מִתְאַבֵּד, לֹא אֶת אוֹר הַמְּנוֹרָה
שֶׁנָּח עַל פָּנַיִךְ, וְלֹא אֶת לַחֲשֵׁי
הָאַהֲבָה שֶׁפִּנַּקְתִּי בְּאָזְנַיִךְ
עַד שֶׁנִּרְגַּעְתְּ וְנִרְדַּמְתְּ.
דָּבָר לֹא תִּזְכְּרִי מִכָּל זֶה.
אֲבָל מִכָּאן וְלִשְׁאֵרִית
חַיַּיִךְ, תְּבַקְּשִׁי
נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת
בָּעוֹלָם שֶׁתִּדְבַּק בָּךְ,
כְּפִי שֶׁאֲנִי.
וְלוּ לְלַיְלָה אֶחָד.
Even for just one night
You won’t remember anything about tonight,
Not the cradle of my arms
that carried you,
like a voice carries an echo,
not my legs’ mute insistence
pacing the room with a suicide’s
determination, not the lamplight
that rested on your face and not the whispers
of love I cosseted into your ear
until you calmed down and fell asleep.
You won’t remember anything of all this.
But henceforth and for the rest of your
life, you will seek
one soul in the world who will cling to you,
like I am.
Even just for one night.
Originally printed in Mantis 14 (2016)
ELI ELIAHU was born in 1969 in Tel Aviv. He works at “Haaretz” newspaper as a copy-editor and also writes on poetry and culture. His collection of poetry: I and not an angel (Helicon, 2008) was awarded the Education and Culture Ministry prize for debut books. He has also been awarded the “Matanel” prize and the Prime Minister Prize for literature. His poems have been translated into English, French, Arabic, German and Turkish.
VIVIAN EDEN grew up in Washington, D.C. and lives in Jerusalem. She holds a Ph.D. in translation studies from the University of Iowa and has published one book of poems and numerous translations of poetry and prose from Hebrew and French. She has taught theater, English and translation in both academic and informal settings and was the poetry editor at Haaretz English Edition from 2013 to 2016.