The Fine Light of My Peace
By Zelda
The butterfly from the flower's
days in paradise -
the flower that I planted in the fall -
still clung with heavenly letters
in it's orange wings,
signs of G-d.
In these signs
that drowned in space before my eyes,
the fine light of my peace
fluttered.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 5:46 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the Zelda poem. I've actually only read her work in Hebrew (many years ago), it's interesting to see the English version.
Even many years later, I can remember the powerful imagery and mystical quality of her words. You've inspired me to go find her book, hiding somewhere on my bookshelf from my old university days.
Meanwhile I'm left with strange images of fragile strength, butterflies and flowers and fluttering.
Thanks Shira, I'm a big Zelda fan. You're right, the best is to see the Hebrew, if you know Hebrew and to glean the many meanings youself. This is from the one English (with Hebrew at its side) collection, that came out pretty recently.
You picked good words to capture some of her poetic essence. There is power and mysticism and great imagery. (She was once asked what the orange butterfly represented and she said it was just an orange butterfly. I think - maybe not thinking of it that way herself but - she was being coy.)
There's a one volume complete works collection available in - I think - most any regular book store in Israel. Here's the link to other times I've cited her or her poems, which you might enjoy: http://rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com/search?q=zelda
Post a Comment
<< Home