דרך הכורכר [Derech HaCorcar] [English translation]

I return on the the Kurkar1path

her twists and turns i know well

and it seems to me that the same cricket

sings under the Tzabar cactus.

Two cypress trees at the front gate

guarding the threshold of my mothers house

and on the concrete post is written my name

that I wrote many years ago

And the smell of melons and pine tar

fall heavily like the years

but always welcomes

I walk on the the Kurkar path

and search for all the village children

whistling a refrain from "the locomotive song"2

but this reminds no one of anything.

about the bicycle that cut across the fields

missing a wheel, its fenders are rusty

and on the tree two swings hang

only in the wind do they (now) swing

And the smell of melons and pine tar...

I leave on the Kurkar path

I think about ash and dirt

on what is now and what was

and on that it's already dark and cold

And the smell of melons and pine tar...

1. Kurkar is the regional name for an aeolian quartz sandstone with carbonate cement - wikipedia2. a song by Arik Lavie