Poem

Esther Raab

Side by side

I\'m beneath the bramble

I’m beneath the bramble,
easy, wanton,
I raised its thorns
towards you laughing,
light beats upon the expanse,
each fold in my dress
whispers to me:
“White and quaking
you go out
towards death.”
You appear –
and lightly I exult
brandishing a glittering sword -
and at high noon
in fields white with light
I issued our sentence
as one!

1922

© Translation: 2002, Institution for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: Ibis, Jerusalem, 2002

I\'m beneath the bramble

Esther Raab

(Ottoman Palestine, 1894 - 1981)

Esther Raab is often touted as Israel’s first native-born woman poet, with the accent on her being native-born. That is, the fact that she was born in Ottoman-ruled Palestine, 52 years before the founding of the state of Israel, and her attention to the landscape, are seen as her defining features. She is celebrated as a nature poet, said to be reflecting the Land of Israel as the new Jewish co...

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Poems of Esther Raab

I\'m beneath the bramble

© 2002, Institution for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: 2002, Ibis, Jerusalem

I\'m beneath the bramble

© 2002, Institution for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
From: Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab. Translated by Harold Schimmel
Publisher: 2002, Ibis, Jerusalem