הקולב [HaKolav] [English translation]

All of life to fear losing

It’s all of life, half a human.

All of life it's the fibers of a shirt

And the faint scent that dissipates with time

All of life to sleep in a cloud

And to exhale and to inhale the same smoke

To wash the skin, pore by pore

And to discover that there’s nothing on the bottom-most bottom

And to dance without moving and to laugh with a spasm

And to go down on all fours in order to make the covenant

Between the women and the children

Who were carved from the same trunk* and turned into men.

All of life to fear losing

That is the whole picture I have of you

Curled up and pained and shivering in bed

Stuttering, breathless in front of the entire class

He folds himself into a doghouse

Rejects a first kiss on the threshold

Awakens to long hours of sleep

Punishes himself and stands in a corner.

She didn’t tell you anything when she hung herself

On the old cloth hanger in the bedroom.

She left the room and hasn’t returned since.

She left a crater in the ceiling,

Left winds in the cavity of the apartment,

Left you with a spasm on your lip**

And a picture of herself

Cruel and beautiful.

*also “race” “ethnicity” “type”

**also “language”