Mantis 21 (Summer 2023)
Translations
Gad Kaynar-Kissinger
translated from Hebrew by Natalie Fainstein
על הראיה
“Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.”
― Meister Eckhart
לשלמה בידרמן
אֵין דָּבָר הַמַּכְבִּיד עַל הָרְאִיָּה מִן הָאוֹר.
הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ מַשְׁטִיחָה וּמַשְׁחִיתָה אֶת הַכֹּל לְאֶחָד.
מֶרְכַּבְתּוֹ שֶׁל הֶלְיוֹס, בִּינָתוֹ שֶׁל אַפּוֹלוֹן,
הֵן תַּעְתּוּעַ.
רַק בַּצֵּל, בָּאַפְלוּלִית, רַק בִּשְׁעַת אֵבֶל,
כְּשֶׁהָאוֹר נֶאֱבָק עִם הַשְּׁחוֹר,
אֲנַחְנוּ רוֹאִים אֶת הַחַיִּים.
אַחֲרֵי שֶׁמֵּתוּ.
אִמִּי הָיְתָה אוֹמֶרֶת:
No news, good news.
כְּשֶׁאֵשֶׁת לוֹט הָפְכָה לִנצִיב מֶלַח
הִיא גִּלְּתָה אֶת הָאֹשֶׁר הָאֲמִתִּי.
הָאֵשׁ בִּסְדוֹם דָּעֲכָה
רַק שׁוּעָלִים וְתַנִּים חִפְּשׂוּ פְּגָרִים
בֵּין הַהֲרִיסוֹת.
מַבָּטָהּ קֻבַּע בָּרִיק עַד עוֹלָם.
דָּבָר לֹא יָכוֹל הָיָה לְהַפְתִּיעָהּ.
דָּבָר לֹא יָכוֹל הָיָה לִפְגֹּעַ בָּהּ.
אִישׁ לֹא חָשַׁק בְּגוּף הַמֶּלַח שֶׁלָּהּ.
הִיא יָדְעָה מַשֶּׁהוּ שֶׁאִישׁ לֹא יָדַע.
מֵתָה חַיָּה.
אֵין אֹשֶׁר גָּדוֹל מִזֶּה.
On Sight
To Shlomo Biderman
Nothing Burdens the sight more than light.
The sun defiles and flattens all into one.
Helios’ chariot, Apollo’s wisdom
Are but an illusion.
Only in shadow, in shade, or in mourning
As the light battles darkness,
Do we see the living.
After they died.
My mother used to say:
No news, good news.
When Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt
She discovered true happiness.
The fire in Sodom died down
Foxes and jackals alone looked for carcasses
In the ashes.
Her gaze fixated in the void for eternity.
Nothing could surprise her.
Nothing could harm her.
No one lusted after her salty flesh.
She knew something no one else did.
She, alive and dead.
There’s no greater joy.
GAD KAYNAR-KISSINGER is a retired Associate Professor from the Theater Department at Tel Aviv University. His poetry was published in major Israeli literary periodicals and supplements, and compiled in seven books, including a bi-lingual Hebrew-Spanish publication Lo que queda (What Remains). For ADHD he won “The General Israeli Writers’ Union” Award (2010). Kaynar is a stage, TV and film actor, and translator of 70 plays from English, German, Norwegian and Swedish. For his Ibsen translations he was designated in 2009 by the Norwegian King as “Knight First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.”
NATALIE FAINSTEIN has an MFA in Theatre Arts from Tel-Aviv University. Since her graduation, she has taken part as an actress in a variety of theatre shows directed by Israel’s most prominent directors. She has expended her fields of expertise “in all things drama” by perusing additional careers in teaching, translating and writing. Natalie is also a voice-over artist with her own home recording studio, specializing in book narration. She is delighted and constantly challenged by Prof. Gad Kaynar’s poetry and considers it a great honor to be the English translator of his poems.