On the Day of Mary’s Ascension to Heaven

On the Day of Mary’s Ascension to heaven,
Come here you Eumenides whose wings’ rustle
With sticky fleabane and childhood. Move away our eyes
from the deceit and bend our forsaken heart
toward distant heavenly candlesticks.
Make us forget the count of the dead
The weights of blood, take off our breasts.
Accompany us in the morning to the barrier, and our mouths
we’ll open wide to breathe in the dust of Be’eri and Al-Burej
that turns in our mouths to the white seed of coriander
And we shall all as one look at the ruins
And our defeated eye will be crystal clear
And our sorrow dripping soul will have rest.
Redeem us Eumenides from the evil of the earth
On whose lips is smeared a streak of deceit
Who lead us to the sweet waters
In cisterns not hewn by us
And we shall wash our faces with forgetfulness
And wrap around ourselves the cloak of the rest of our days.
On the Day of Mary’s Ascension to heaven
Tilt the pails of gold and alabaster
On the children of Gaza and Nir Oz
Marching in before you in a row of agni dei.
Do not turn away your eyes from them
doomed by the water and scorched by the fire.
Remember their murmuring blood
Learn and teach diligently their names
And tell about them, for their death is branded
phylacteries between our eyes and written
on the doorposts of our homes and on our gates.
You are benevolent, you Eumenides.
Our souls lie always in your palms.
Lead us to the burnt meadows
where we shall anticipate the new grass
That will burst forth from its seed’s darkness.
For everything has an end and all will come to an end
And the earth is abandoned and moaning and the fire
burns. Wake us up Eumenides
and we shall be awake like people who were wakened up from their sleep
and they blink at the light
and lo before them a golden candelabrum.

The poem was translated by Galit Hasan-Rokem, with the poet’s help.