A poem by Ovadya ben Malka
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A long sorrow follows us into the future.
A sadness long foretold
Baked into loaves
Laid out under the lamps
Of unforgiving time
Meeting our questions with silence.
A great joy lives in our future
A seed planted in the soil of memory,
Watered by our tears
Pushing roots into the past and green shoots into the future
And calling to us: Live!
Only live to see me blossom!
A blessing and a curse were laid on us that day.
We have drunk our fill of the curse,
Lived it through every dark and empty moment of chaos,
Sought unattainable death amidst a sea of corpses.
However large or small a bowl one brings,
This curse fills it.
A curse and a blessing were laid on us that day.
Having lived the curse,
Can we doubt the blessing?
We’ve felt the change, stirring beneath the spiral coil of time,
See the green shoots of hope blossoming in our land renewed.
However large or small a seed we plant,
This blessing fills it.
