SHMUEL SHATAL
THE DEATH OF JACOB
His eyes are still open
But gone from them is
Esau.
Hundred of people are with him
Now
Only his eyes remain
Open
Listening
And he is still a fetus
In his mother's womb
Hearing
"for this too is thy child"
and his hand already grasps
the heel of his brother.
And his eyes are still open
As if it were
Now
IT MIGHT BE HIM
I turned on the light
to allow a cockroach
to find its way—
With a decisive swing
I killed him –
almost –
but he escaped
to the joy
of the Thou-Shalt-Not-Murder in me –
It might have been
Gregor Kafka
or
the darkness
in my
head
COVER
I hungered to disclose you
unto the bounds of complete
fulfillment
until there was no-thing
covering you
translated
by Karen Alkalay-Gut