Subscribe: by Email | in Reader

A Man Doesn't Have Time In His Life -- Yehuda Amichai

Guest poem sent in by Abhishek Singh
(Poem #1398) A Man Doesn't Have Time In His Life
 A man doesn't have time in his life
 to have time for everything.
 He doesn't have seasons enough to have
 a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes
 Was wrong about that.

 A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment,
 to laugh and cry with the same eyes,
 with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them,
 to make love in war and war in love.
 And to hate and forgive and remember and forget,
 to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest
 what history
 takes years and years to do.

 A man doesn't have time.
 When he loses he seeks, when he finds
 he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves
 he begins to forget.

 And his soul is seasoned, his soul
 is very professional.
 Only his body remains forever
 an amateur. It tries and it misses,
 gets muddled, doesn't learn a thing,
 drunk and blind in its pleasures
 and its pains.

 He will die as figs die in autumn,
 Shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
 the leaves growing dry on the ground,
 the bare branches pointing to the place
 where there's time for everything.
-- Yehuda Amichai
Note: From "The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai", translations by Chana
Bloch and Stephen Mitchell.

I was sent this poem by a friend of mine, who adores Amichai. Frankly
speaking, I had not heard of this late Israeli poet, before this poem. But
this one encounter was enough to put me in awe of his art.  What I found out
was that Amichai is the most translated poet in Hebrew after King David!
Like all translations something IS lost from one language to the other.
Amichai's poetry in fact either renders very well or not well at all into
English depending on the point of view taken. His poetry is simple, direct,
colloquial (my friend tells me that he is read by soldiers, shopkeepers...),
while also drawing on history and playing with words and sounds. The wit and
word-play are of course lost in English. In this poem for example, the
second-last stanza seems a bit ackward, with unwieldy words like
'professional' and 'amateur' breaking the flow, but the overall message of
the simplicity of the body and the sophistication of the soul is one that is
powerful beyond words.

Anyway I admit to not knowing a lot more about Amichai, but would love it if
someone told us more about him and his poetry. This write- up has been more
about the poet, because I think the poem itself is amazing enough to speak
for itself! Finally there's nothing more to be said, apart from the final
imagery...

"He will die as figs die in autumn,
Shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
...
the bare branches pointing to the place
where there's time for everything."

Amichai died in 2000...you can light a candle in his memorium and
read more at http://www.ithl.org.il/amichai/

Abhishek

We've run one other poem by Amichai: Poem #1108

Biography: http://www.ithl.org.il/amichai/on.html

12 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

A Giridhar RAO said...

Abhishek Singh says:

> Like all translations something IS lost
> from one language to the other.

Amichai describes the act of translation beautifully, thus:

quietly we transfer words from man to man,
from one tongue to other lips,
and not knowingly, like a father
who transfers the features of his dead father's face
to his son,
and himself doesn't look like either.

Vinay Dharwadker and A. K. Ramanujan preface their excellent collection,
_The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry_ (Oxford 1994), with these
evocative words of Amichai (but do not say where they have taken them from).

A Giridhar RAO

Flavia Iacobaeus said...

"The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace."

Nice poem.

Flavia

sachin said...

nicely descrbd the beautiful nd preciouness of tme

Anonymous said...

good
Mengobati Sakit Ambeien
Mengobati Ambeien Tanpa Operasi
Mengobati Sakit Ambeyen
Mengobati Sakit Ambeien Wasir Tanpa Operasi
Mengobati Ambeien Berdarah
Mengobati Ambeien Tanpa Operasi
Mengobati Ambeien
Mengobati Ambeien Wasir Berdarah Tanpa Operasi
Jual Obat Ambeien
Jual Obat Ambeyen Tradisional
Obat Ambeien Tradisional
Jual Obat Ambeien Wasir Tradisional
Obat Ambeien Wasir Tradisional tanpa Operasi
Obat Ambeien tanpa Operasi
Obat Ambeien Tradisional tanpa harus Operasi
Pengobatan Ambeien Tradisional tanpa Operasi
Obat Ambeien Tradisional
Obat Ambeien Resep Dokter
Obat Ambeien Wasir
Obat Ambeien Wasir Tradisional Resep Dokter
Cara Alami Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien
Cara Alami Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Wasir Dalam
Cara Ampuh Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Dalam
Cara Alami Mengobati Sakit Ambeien Dalam
Cara Tradisional Mengobati Ambeien Dalam
Cara Tradisional Mengobati Ambeien
Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Dalam
Cara Tradisional Mengobati Penyakit Ambeyen Dalam
Cara Herbal Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien
Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Dalam
Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien
Cara Herbal Mengobati Penyakit Ambeyen Dalam
Cara Aman Mengobati Penyakit Ambeyen Dalam
Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Dalam
Cara Mengobati Ambeien Dalam
Cara Ampuh Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Dalam
Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Dalam
Cara Alternatif Mengobati Ambeien
Cara Alternatif Mengobati Penyakit Ambeyen Dalam
Cara Alternatif Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien
Cara Ampuh Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien
Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Dalam
Cara Ampuh Mengobati Ambeien
Cara Alami Mengobati Penyakit Ambeien Dalam
obat ambeyen tanpa operasi
obat wasir tanpa operasi
pengobatan ambeien tanpa operasi
obat ambeien wasir tanpa operasi

alicetaylor said...

with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them, to make love in war and war in love. takes years and years to do.

run3play.com

Post a Comment