The Mother's Face in the Palm of Her Hands — Web Exclusive
By Tuvia Ruebner
Translated by Rachel Tzvia Back
And if this time it's the neighbor's son
of whom nothing is left for dust,
if this time it's the neighbor's son
and the winds didn't stand still the trees weren't uprooted the dog
kept barking
and we said its terrible terrible because it's
terrible. Thank god, the neighbors' son
thank god, the neighbors'
boy –
nothing lasts an eternity,
every second we were glued
to the voice that would speak from the other end of the line
and would say I'm fine, I'm in one piece
until everything was mercilessly ripped to shreds
and his parents are old
and this is the end. How are we to look now they are stone
people. In their bewildered immobile faces, the face of a dying
animal, the father's face
and the face of the mother who is no longer a mother and no longer
has a face in the palm of her hands?
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Tuvia Ruebner's poetry has received every major award in Israel, including the Prime Minister's Prize twice and the prestigious Israel Prize (in 2008). In Europe, his poetry and translations have been celebrated and extensively acknowledged with prizes including the D. Steinberg Prize (Zurich, 1981), the Christian Wagner Prize (Germany, 1994), the Jeanette Schocken Prize (Germany, 1999), and many more. Ruebner is also widely recognized as an accomplished photographer, and the strongly visual is present in his poetic work.
Rachel Tzvia Back is a poet, translator and professor of literature; she has lived in Israel for 30 years. She is the editor and primary translator of the English edition of the anthology With an Iron Pen: Twenty Years of Hebrew Protest Poetry. Additional books of translations include Lea Goldberg: Selected Poetry & Drama and Night, Morning: Selected Poems of Hamutal Bar Yosef. Her own poetry collections include On Ruins & Return: Poems 1999-2005, Azimuth and Litany.