Gathering of the Bones
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Don’t post your yearnings on the bulletin board,food for the bird of the dayand the beast of the night.Bury them in a pit.Pour whitewash over them.Let the worms eat awayat the beloved smile and voice.Gratefully accept the embrace of consolers.When a year has passed, open the grave.Collect the bones.Gather a bundle of pale young twigs.Burn it all by the river.Breathe in the odor of the smoke, the reeds,the water, the flowers.Drink the blood of grapes and try to sing.Give the consolers a hug. [End Page 198]
HAMATUL BAR-YOSEF has won the Akum Prize (1978), Tel Aviv Prize (1984), the Jerusalem Prize for poetry (1997), the WIZO Prize for the Creative Woman (1999), the President of Israel Prize for poetry (2002), and the Brenner Prize for poetry (2005). Her poems have been translated into English, German, Yiddish, Arabic and various other languages.
