{"id":5185,"date":"2024-04-16T20:23:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T20:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/?p=5185"},"modified":"2024-04-17T19:52:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T19:52:32","slug":"poem-by-balfour-haka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/poem-by-balfour-haka\/","title":{"rendered":"Poems by Balfour Hakak"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poems by Balfour Hakak<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Translation from the Hebrew by Schulamith Chava Halevy<\/p>\n

I watched her ebbing storm
\nsurrounded by every adjuration of the Covenant
\noaths and vows carved into her living flesh
\npeeling from my flesh,
\ndetaching, departing
\neyes veiled in tremor,
\nawesome majesty
\nHer freedom is no more.<\/p>\n

Her burning frock she left me,
\nall my sheets of poems
\nare hers
\n\u2014 a keepsake.<\/p>\n

Her attire is of qualm
\ndisappearing into the distance
\nshe is quiet now, silent.
\nWho might comprehend
\nthe depth of her torment.<\/p>\n

THE SIGHT OF THE HEART<\/strong>
\nBalfour Hakak<\/p>\n

Ever since you arose in my thought
\nYou have been saying to me from a distance:
\nYour face is the face of a seraph
\nAnd you are one of the riders in the Chariot<\/p>\n

We loved together in aimless motion
\nWe lived together in a place of punishment
\nThose who go there are entwined, their soul goes out
\nThose who go there do not return.<\/p>\n

Blue rivers then were of fire
\nYou were a queen in beauty
\nI was a king in majesty
\nAnd we both loved according to the word.<\/p>\n

Never forget:
\nWe ascended from all the abysses and the breakings
\nWe saw much happiness, also pain,
\nBut we were on the highest height of all:
\nWe had sight of the heart.<\/p>\n

Translation:
\nEsther Cameron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A scroll of Lineage \u2014\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poem by Balfour Hakak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Translation from the Hebrew by Schulamith Chava Halevy\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My grandfather
\n<\/span>received from his father a parchment
\n<\/span>a scroll of lineage
\n<\/span>and his father received from his
\n<\/span>and his father received from his
\n<\/span>father from father
\n<\/span>back to the elders of the
\n<\/span>great Assembly<\/span><\/p>\n

But when my father departed in his immaculate gown
\n<\/span>when he ascended to his great ancestral land
\n<\/span>the scroll blew into sighs
\n<\/span>the scroll blew in the wind
\n<\/span>names aflame
\n<\/span>letters afly<\/span><\/p>\n

Ever since
\n<\/span>lost still in the tempestuous storm
\n<\/span>I seek after my trampled scroll
\n<\/span>in the light of day
\n<\/span>in the twilight of sorcery<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, I must create
\n<\/span>starting now
\n<\/span>a scroll of lineage
\n<\/span>\u2014 a new scroll
\n<\/span>One that begins with
\n<\/span>me.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Poems by Balfour Hakak. Translation from the Hebrew by Schulamith Chava Halevy I watched her ebbing storm surrounded by every adjuration of the Covenant oaths and vows carved into her living flesh peeling from my flesh, detaching, departing eyes veiled in tremor, awesome majesty Her freedom is no more. Her burning frock she left […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[171],"tags":[],"book_author":[],"book_publisher":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5185"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5189,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5185\/revisions\/5189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5185"},{"taxonomy":"book_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book_author?post=5185"},{"taxonomy":"book_publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwabogdani.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book_publisher?post=5185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}