We did what was expected of us.
We were like those who enter a movie theater
passing the flushed or pale exiters
building quietly or laughing out loud.
And they enter without a second glance, without
turning, into the light and the darkness and the light.
We did what was expected of us.
Translated from the Hebrew by Karen Alkalay-Gut
Priscilla Sneff
LET
A MAN ...
Let a man now meditate on the sound: the
Doctor's laugh - the soft sawing, as if music,
Shushing.... But this whine serpentines beyond the
Staff of the Physick.
Let a man now meditate upon touch: the
Doctor's hands. How easily are the organs
Simplified, and how tenderly tied by such
Strands as the surgeon's .. .
Let a man live. Let a man live forever,
Keeping watch over the much longer era
Than nineteen-fifty
till
-eighty-seven, nor
Pace in terra
...
Let a man now meditate on the breath: the
Doctor's breath, how it gradually comes stiller ...
Heal me!
Stiller.
Heal me. Nor have I faith in
Death as a healer.
