Tuesday, October 18, 2011

One Empty Lot

from Love is finished again
By Yehuda Amichai

...
Love is finished again. When a tall building
is torn down and the debris cleared away, you stand there
on the square empty lot, saying: What a small
space that building stood on
with all its many floors and people.
...

--Translated by Chana Bloch and Stephen Mitchell

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

One Sleepy Husband

A War-Torn Wife 
By Chenjerai Hove

This war!
I am tired of a husband
 who never sleeps
guarding the home or on call-up,
never sleeping!

Maybe inside himself he says
"I am tired of a wife
   who never dies
so I can stop guarding."