Poem
Esther Raab
Cocklebur pierced red loam
Cocklebur pierced red loamand spilled like milk
across the ground;
and at night a moon licks
saucers of milk swaying
on slender stalks,
the clouds extend their trail-of-white,
dip in the froth of blossoming
flooding cocklebur,
and green bee-eaters in masses
gurgle and go berserk,
fill their bellies
with swarming insects
in saucers of white cocklebur;
screw bean smothers cocklebur
lest it also conquer the sand;
smell of soft screw bean, leaking
and smell of pungent cocklebur leaping –
each to the other tightly adhering
and filling expanses of flat
red loam in its clods.
© Translation: 2002, Institution for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: Ibis, Jerusalem, 2002
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: Ibis, Jerusalem, 2002
Cocklebur pierced red loam
© 1988, Zmora Bitan Publishers
From: Collected Poems
Publisher: Zmora Bitan Publishers, Tel Aviv
From: Collected Poems
Publisher: Zmora Bitan Publishers, Tel Aviv
Poems
Poems of Esther Raab
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Cocklebur pierced red loam
Cocklebur pierced red loamand spilled like milk
across the ground;
and at night a moon licks
saucers of milk swaying
on slender stalks,
the clouds extend their trail-of-white,
dip in the froth of blossoming
flooding cocklebur,
and green bee-eaters in masses
gurgle and go berserk,
fill their bellies
with swarming insects
in saucers of white cocklebur;
screw bean smothers cocklebur
lest it also conquer the sand;
smell of soft screw bean, leaking
and smell of pungent cocklebur leaping –
each to the other tightly adhering
and filling expanses of flat
red loam in its clods.
© 2002, Institution for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: 2002, Ibis, Jerusalem
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: 2002, Ibis, Jerusalem
Cocklebur pierced red loam
Cocklebur pierced red loamand spilled like milk
across the ground;
and at night a moon licks
saucers of milk swaying
on slender stalks,
the clouds extend their trail-of-white,
dip in the froth of blossoming
flooding cocklebur,
and green bee-eaters in masses
gurgle and go berserk,
fill their bellies
with swarming insects
in saucers of white cocklebur;
screw bean smothers cocklebur
lest it also conquer the sand;
smell of soft screw bean, leaking
and smell of pungent cocklebur leaping –
each to the other tightly adhering
and filling expanses of flat
red loam in its clods.
© 2002, Institution for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: 2002, Ibis, Jerusalem
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: 2002, Ibis, Jerusalem
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