-
My Children
- Wayne State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
My Children196 Today, through a haze of falling snow, I saw My children—two by two. They ringed around me, children dear, Tugging at my skirt with complaints to air: "Come play with us. We'll dance in a circle And you'll stand in the middle And tell us why you kept the living world from us." I gave them cookies and bade them, "Eat." And I made excuses that I'd forgotten their street. There were four of them. The youngest girl, a tiny tot. She combed her ringlets, and donned a Purim hat. They clapped their hands, danced, ran about, Delighted that the dream had let us meet. Suddenly, my eldest son Began to talk up a storm. "I'm nothing now. I never was, will never be. I don't know the taste of pleasure or of pain. Sometimes I descend to foreign worlds, I hear their noise and sometimes hear The echo of your voice. Why did you not deliver to me My portion, the one reserved, the one decreed In your world of music and tears?197 Sometimes I see how my vision that was never born Flutters before me, It quivers among all the heavens. What do your songs matter, their melodies and choruses While, behind them, our souls, all wilted, swarm?198 You are not the final cause, You're not the beginning and you're not the last intent, Why should I be condemned to unrealized worlds? 419 'as yayiircyi Bttra -Rp ,py»s> Ta pK ly?*?:* oy K I K pyx Ta pK 13tt"Yl D J 7 -trcra p§ 7a i§n DJ; m yr-n ]3Kn DJ;|nK ya??o pK 1 ' p-^ BKH DJ; - ,m DIK 7 a - ^ TK ^IK mypiyi nK.tD |IK T I ?]ys ijn B^a ]ysnpo pnayBtt; VDK^ njn KT T^K DKH px ^l p l^K OKU B*a 7 a B-|K; D pK sip yr-^a oyV ]yayianK B^nyi n aKrfD •tyaisyi B^a Vsyp oyr^p TK iKn; D nK3 nyi pKYiyj •oyna ayi ^syi nyi pK ]imwnK§ ]ya^T nywp ^ IKI a^n'a K BDKJ ^?a BX^K "T nyn I^K pK 420 [35.173.178.60] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 21:50 GMT) Unlit fires glow in me, Sorrows cry in me without a prayer, The thresholds of unfulfilled journeys call me. Why did you sentence me to limbo here?"199 His words caught fire, warming up the snow, And my eyesfilledwith tears. My youngest daughter took pity on me And rested her forehead on my knee. "It doesn't bother me," she said, And I recognized my smile on her face. "I don't long for this world, And you may keep all that happiness!200 I, too, would probably have been a wretch like you, Quarrelling with everyone and holding grudges for years. And what's so delightful about constantly creaking with that pen? It doesn't bother me that I was never born." I wanted to give her a kiss, but in my hands I held only cold snow that melted away. I wanted to hug her at my knees, But I could not find her little head. The haze of falling snow grew thicker. My children vanished in the gray haze. All I could hear were their faint footsteps, Like small bells in a windy whirl, And I hear them now at night, in silent hours. 421 3 pa ,pnx:utm pa px Bsnsnss 7T pxn oy ^y^yopis yr^p H TO IX T*7 T'X ??x ixs tnjn D^a nxsnjn ^T D^T^H-T^ px oxn ]ya •ly^SD m m tra ]ix D^pios to^a DXH; D nxi •pjBya i n x ^T ysxnoo nyo^n D^a - D^nna jrprr^p H exn pK •jx p^x p^n onso H ps X^DD ,p^Ti?i Dins px tm ^T X89^ yt2;nynt 'Ti H ps D^nrmy: H pra ,Di3 pa ,piKMvn pa px pK ^xmn px 422 ...