Dotan Brom
Facing the Almond Tree
30th of Shvat, 5770, Feb. 14, 2010, Afula
Sometimes in the middle of the winter there are some shining days
And their air is very clear, yet nonetheless bustling
Small hopes, fragments of glory and kindness with no title
Reigns over them with the entirety of the soul and anaesthetizes
a pain - you didn't know exactly how to neglect
That lives in you – be it old, be it dim.
Sometimes on this type of day you know: you must forget –
everything you were taught; to behave as if you're crippled
Yet learn to move about in the world as if afresh
And it suddenly produces a possibility in the impossible.
Sometimes you have some really exciting moments,
finding that the world and all its parts are stitched with a string
connecting all its billion trivialities.
And it also entails joy –
knowing your place in G-ds hut.
Sometimes you find yourselves captive in an inflorescence,
white and fragile like faded wedding clothes.
Sometimes in the middle of the winter there are some shining days
and moments of splendor are bestowed on you, as you stand
like a groom who knows his dowry was already paid to him
to the universe – his love –
facing the almond tree.