Days of Turquoise

Days of Turquoise

Shulamit Sapir – Nevo

 All the poems that are marked with * are

translated by Mel  Rosenberg

Paint on the cover by Isaac Amit 

Cover design by Ester Ben Harrouch

On a thin rope

Between reality and dream

There is the farthest moment

The sweetest

Of all.

What will l do*

What will l do with this heart

Replete with rain

Splashing through puddles

In rubber boots

Looking for the magic.

Even when the legends were soaked

And their pages

Ripped into boats

In the water

There is no limit

To the heart

When it is full of desire.

Once in a month

Once in a month

For a night or two

You will come like a full moon

I will wear the sky

As you untangle the stars.

Legend* 

Simply put on your jeans

And t-shirt

Skip the carriage

And mannerisms.

I don’t need anything

Except your eyes

Dripping  on me-

Intoxicating wine.

I don’t need anything

Except your skipping heart beats

When your hands talk

Love.

Those flowers* 

Those flowers you scattered

All over my head

On one summer night

Were signs of the dawn,

You woke up the legend.

Your eyes dressed me up

In the beauty and light

While I lay there in slumber

And honey poured out of

The tree of delight.

He left 

He left me a rose

And just a bit of rain

He forgot how briefly it flowers

After all,

Longing sometimes

Withers too.

He takes me

He takes me to his playground,

A ride on the carousel

Whose horses had left long time ago.

Then he swings

It’s hard for him

To stay in one place.

Bring more woods

Bring more woods

To this coal fireplace

Can’t you see

My hands are

Trembling from cold

I am turning into Snow White

Hurry

Your seven Dwarfs are losing their magic

And I am losing my heart.

April moon

There is a full moon

And a full glass of wine

And a foolish heart

Tell me a fairy tale tonight.

He knows

He knows

How to be a caliph,

One who tells stories

One thousand Arabian Nights.

Pouring eyes of love,

Dripping

Longings,

He knows how easy it is

To become addicted

To rosy lies,

To let them flourish

And fill the heart

When it is empty.

Winter

And there is no coat

For the heart.

Memories * 

Memories in my hand

Like the pebbles

Of the sea

That I collected.

My fingers are still wet

And blue

From the turquoise waves

Which touched

The sea that opened

In my heart.

I still stand bewitched,

By the shells, the corals and the stars

That pulled me into depths

The likes of which I’ll never know.

Forget the turquoise days* 

“Forget the turquoise days”,

The winter tells me,

And comes towards me,

Hands full of clouds

“It’s true, I’m not beautiful as they are”

He adds

But I have”

A rainbow with colors

For every arrow

You wish.

Even fantasy needs roots to exist.

In this circle

In this circle

Just the two of us are sitting

The bottle of  wine is already empty,

And the head is spinning

Now I can ask him

“Truth or dare?”

And he will answer me –

With lips

Candies

That used to be.

As a book

As a book

On The sands of the sea,

Wind turns its pages

Randomly

And waves want

To  play with

No beginning

No end,

Read me.

Like the Sea * 

There is no yesterday

There is no tomorrow

I am sand that yearns

With all its goldness

To draw your head round,

Follow me.

So once more you will leave

And again you’ll return

To sing

To my shells

As you break apart

And curl up

Like the sea.

You will bring

Unto me

All the treasures of your heart

Whisper and weep,

Rupture and rage

As you fill my vessel

With love.

Games

You put on your board

Rooks and knights to

Protect you, King.

You choose tactics and strategies

And pawns who know how to run and fall at your beck

And call For you,

It’s as if fate doesn’t exist-

Here is the queen

Who will conquer your heart

Check

Mate.

*This  picture is by
Riki Duanis- Kaspany

Flip through* 

Flip through

Maybe you’ll reach

The page

Where you don’t need

To read

Between the lines.

Give me one mask* 

Give me one mask

To cry without shame

So that I can go wild

No concern for

What others might say

Or how I look today

And when I face the mirror

I will love what I see,

A mask that needs

No saving face

Give me one such mask

Unencumbered

Transparent

With no need

To hide

A thing.

My black Jack

My black Jack

In this casino

You can lose easily

The heart that you won

If you don’t play your cards

Right.

Poseidon* 

Poseidon

Smiles at you

From his turquoise ocean

He bares his muscular torso

Bronzed by the summer

He knows that I will give myself to him

Any time he desires

All the blue words

Swim around

In my head

For him

I would be

A small mermaid

Or even a goldfish

If only I could

Drown each dawn

In the turquoise of his eyes.

Do not give me

Do not give me all the stars

At once

Just one by one

Each night.

At the chocolate house* 

At the chocolate house

In the Forest

Sweet drops on the walls

like falling rain.

Hansel and Gretel ,you and me

Touching with lips only

Wanting just a taste.

The good Witch is baking a cake

She doesn’t allow us

To be bad kids

Hansel and Gretel you and me

Hide in our first caresses

And melt .

Bridge

Do you still love me

After we crossed the bridge

And came to it,

After I showed you

My heart.

Once more* 

Once more in the café,

Staring at the bottom of the cup

Perhaps the dregs will conjure up

Moments of sugar.

If you don’t ask me* 

If you don’t ask me to dance
I won’t show my colors
I won’t sprinkle gold

I will plunge,
In a shell –
A white pearl
Who has lost her voice
At sea.

But
If you trap me
In your net of light
And ask me to dance for you
I will rise
And dance
Till there is no water
Above.

Midnight*

The glass slipper is still red hot

A crumpled love note

Your lips playing with

Wine

That never ends

You missed the coach,

You don’t even care about

The missing

Sand castle.

On your face is the smile of the princess

Who didn’t wake up

In time.

Stations

I took the train.

We passed the rain station

The sand station

The sea station

But at the station

Of the heart

I got derailed.

Don’t say

Don’t speak words

You have another,

A better language

That may know

Love.

After celebrating* 

After celebrating with the gods

After they brewed me honey and wine

After they blessed me with their music

Danced with me the whole night

Spun my head

And filled my heart with rain and light

I carefully fold

The wings of gold which

They gave me

And slowly descend

The Olympus.