Out of this, perhaps, and out of some traditional prayers,
I've written this poem, which is actually
based on a very ancient Jewish prayer, which
is like a Christian requiem.
So you pray after a person died.
You pray-- it's an open grave or on memorial days--
to God that he may have mercy on this soul and let him
rest in peace.
So we are so unsure of peace while we
are alive that we are even unsure that there
is peace after life.
So we have to pray for it, otherwise
some people would think that at least death
has something-- at least peace.
But, even so, we pray for it.
And this prayer is a very famous Jewish prayer.
In Hebrew, it's called אל מלא רחמים.
The exact translation is "God Full of Compassion,"
or "God Full of Pity."
And, actually, I remember when, hearing it once
at the graveside of a very good friend of me
who fell many years ago in the war.
And he was quite a young man at that time.
And I listened to the cantor chanting this very beautiful
prayer.
So, suddenly, I just thought, wait a moment.
Like, sometimes you wake up, you listen
to words which you are so much used to like "how do you do,"
and you just say, wait a moment, God's full of compassion.
So if God's so full of compassion,
why do young people die?
Why Holocaust?
Why wars?
So actually that's what poetry should
do-- constantly ask and challenge words and metaphors
and never to take anything for granted.
So I'll read you this poem.
After the English translation, I shall
read the Hebrew original text.
"God Full of Compassion."
"Were it not for the God full of compassion,
compassion would exist in the world and not only in Him.
I who picked flowers on the mountain
and looked into all the valleys, I who carried
corpses from the hills and qualified
to report that the world is empty of compassion.
I who was sultan of salt at the Dead Sea,
who stood without decisions at my window, who
counted the footsteps of angels whose heart lifted weights
of pain in those terrible competitions.
I who use only a small portion of the words in the dictionary
know that were it not for the God full of compassion,
compassion would exist in the world and not only in Him."
"אל מלא רחמים אלמלא האל מלא רחמים
״היו הרחמים בעולם ולא רק בו. אני, שקטפתי פרחים בהר
״והסתכלתי על כל העמקים, אני, שהבאתי גוויות מן הגבעות, יודע לספר שהעולם ריק מרחמים.
״אני שהייתי מלך המלח ליד הים, שעמדתי בלי החלטה ליד חלוני,
"שספרתי צעדי מלאכים, שליבי הרים משקלות כאב בתחרויות הנוראות.
״אני שמשתמש רק בחלק קטן מן המילים שבמילון.
״יודע כי אלמלא האל מלא רחמים היו הרחמים בעולם ולא רק בו.״
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