שיר פטריוטי – Patriotic Poem

Ronnie Someck. Ills. Joseph Sassoon Semah

שיר פטריוטי

ֲאנִי ִעיָרִקי-ִפּיָג’ָמה,ִאְשִׁתּי רוָֹמנִיָּה
וְַהַבּת ֶשָׁלּנוּ ִהיא ַהַגּנָּב ִמַבְּגָדד.
אָמּא ֶשִׁלּי ַמְמִשׁיָכה ְלַהְרִתּיַח ֶאת ַהְפָּרת וְַהִחֶדֶּקל, ֲאחוִֹתי ָלְמָדה ְלָהִכין ִפּירוְּשִׁקי ֵמִאמּוֹ ָהרוִּסיָּה ֶשׁל ַבֲּעָלהּ.
ֶהָחֵבר ֶשָׁלּנוּ, ָמרוֹקוֹ-ַסִכּין, תּוֵֹקַע ַמזְֵלג
ִמְפָּלָדה נְְגִלית ְבָּדג ֶשׁנּוַֹלד ְבּחוֵֹפי נוְֹרֶבְגיָה. ֻכָּלּנוּ פּוֲֹעִלים ְמֻפָטִּרים ֶשׁהוְּרדוּ ִמִפּגּוֵּמי ַהִמְּגָדּל ֶשָׁרִצינוּ ִלְבנוֹת ְבָּבֶבל.
ֻכָּלּנוּ ֲחנִיתוֹת ֲחֻלדּוֹת ֶשׁדּוֹן ִקישוֹט ֵהִעיף
ַעל ַטֲחנוֹת ָהרוַּח.
ֻכָּלּנוּ ֲעַדיִן יוִֹרים ְבּכוָֹכִבים ְמַסנְוְֵרי ֵעינַיִם ֶרַגע ִלְפנֵי ֶשֵׁהם נְִבָלִעים
ִבְּשִׁביל ֶהָחָלב.

PATRIOTIC POEM

I’m a pajama Iraqi, my wife’s a Romanian gal
and our daughter is the thief of Baghdad.
My mother still boils the Euphrates and the Tigris,
my sister has learned how to make piroshki
from her Russian mother-in-law.
Our friend, a knife Moroccan, stabs an English
steel fork into a fish born on Norwegian shores.
All of us are workers sacked from the scaffoldings
of the tower we wanted to build in Babel.
All of us are rusty spears
that Don Quixote threw at the windmills.
All of us are still shooting at dazzling stars
a moment before they are swallowed up
into the Milky Way.

Translated by Vivian Eden