Grace
- Grace
The insult of the poor man's hunger isn't for you to appeaseand the avenger's zeal isn't for you to cool downand the bulldozed house isn't for you to protect with your bodyand the baby pram that goes up by a whirlwind into heavenisn't for you to seize and gently bring downand the reign of evil isn't for you to cast out
therefore tend to your own home
to the one who loves youto your one and onlyto the yellow plea in the slits of its eyesand bury your face in its fur.
One caressfor one catin the world.
Tal Nitzan was born in Jaffa and lives in Tel Aviv. She is a poet, an editor and one of the preeminent translators from Spanish in Israel today. Recipient of the Culture Minister's Prize for Beginning Poets in 2001, Nitzan has published three poetry books: Domestica (2002, recipient of the Culture Minister's Prize for First Book), An Ordinary Evening (2006), and Café Soleil Bleu (2007). An ardent peace activist, Nitzan edited the ground-breaking anthology With an Iron Pen: Hebrew Protest Poetry 1984-2004, published in 2005.
Note
Originally published in Hebrew, translation by Tal Nitzan, with Vivian Eden [End Page 69]
