The Light of Your Return

what is it like when the resurrection comes
but there are no resurrected

when the Exodus is so close

but Egypt is everywhere


when there is so little oil

but countless endless days


when you strain to see the silhouettes

but your eyes are drowning in tears


when you were supposed to be back tomorrow

but today is already yesterday. and you’re still not here


and there is no place

where you weren’t


there is no time in which you weren’t

there is no thought you haven’t gotten stuck in


because there is nowhere left to poke with the awl

excuse us – clumsy tailors!


because we sewed with lead

and hammered with silver nails

your belly, our God


how do you carry all your children

together and close by?


we are unhurried people

work the war sluggishly


with flowers and fruits, see

in bursts, in bursts

with strained hearing

with heightened vision

gray long tunnels, dead ends

like an exhalation and time

without your image and likeness


exhalation and time


where is your light toward which they will march?

crepuscular as a holiday

cruel as borders


gentle as native ruins


come out to us!

come out into it!


the first light will illuminate your path

the second, your faces so dusty and pale

the third, us ashamed ones

the fourth light, confused hugs and crying

the fifth, unbearable memory

the sixth, those who were left behind

the seventh, hope and rage

the eighth and continuous light – will be you!