Poem

Ory Bernstein

Side by side

[How was love]

How was love when it was?
No way to know, to say what water is.

Only the after-sights remain:
a recollection of jealousy when I shouted
desperate in an empty room.

A memory of desire when the body
left its borders and ascended
to stifling heights.

A memory of friendship when we each
placed a hand on the other’s shoulder,
going, together, toward an event.

But how was love when it was?
No way to know, to say what water is

[How was love]

אֵיךְ הָיְתָה הָאַהֲבָה כְּשֶׁהָיְתָה?
אֵין לָדַעַת, שֶׁאֵין לְהַגְדִּיר מַיִם.

וְנִשְׁאֲרוּ רַק מַרְאוֹת לְוַאי:
זֵכֶר קִנְאָה כְּשֶׁצָּעַקְתִּי
נוֹאָשׁוֹת בְּתוֹךְ חֶדֶר רֵיק.

זֵכֶר תְּשׁוּקָה כְּשֶׁהַגּוּף
חָרַג מִגִּדְרוֹ וְהֶעְפִּיל
לִגְבָהִים שֶׁל חֶנֶק.

זֵכֶר שֶׁל יְדִידוּת כְּשֶׁהִנַּחְנוּ
אִישׁ יָד עַל כֶּתֶף רְעוּתוֹ,
הוֹלְכִים, בִּמְשֻׁתָּף, לִקְרַאת מִקְרֶה.

אוּלָם אֵיךְ הָיְתָה הָאַהֲבָה שֶׁהָיְתָה?
אֵין לָדַעַת, שֶׁאֵין לְהַגְדִּיר מַיִם.

© 2013, Ory Bernstein
From: Ha-Zikaron Ha-Aroch Shel Ha-Ahava/The Long Memory of Love
Publisher: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, Tel Aviv

Ory Bernstein

(Israel, 1936 - 2017)

Unlike many other poets of his generation -- who were children when the state of Israel was founded -- Ory Bernstein did not deal with nation-building in his work. His is a poetics lacking the political agenda and ideology of the renewal of the Jewish people, and the collective challenges in its wake. On the contrary, Bernstein’s poetry draws inspiration from 19th century lyrical romanticism wi...