A Future Without A Perhaps
By Gabriel Preil
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
I cross out so many names
in my little book. They are no more.
but they were already crossed out
by the Lord of Mercies,
the Great Bushwhacker who leaps
from his forest of shadows.
I cross out name after name
in my little book. I feel I am
guilty, deserving of black punishment,
as if there had not first been One
who did what He had done.
Of course I am only a little bookkeeper
verifying ice-hard facts,
signing off on them, as on a decree
that will also be enforced to me
in a future of no perhaps.
The Original:
By Gabriel Preil
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
I cross out so many names
in my little book. They are no more.
but they were already crossed out
by the Lord of Mercies,
the Great Bushwhacker who leaps
from his forest of shadows.
I cross out name after name
in my little book. I feel I am
guilty, deserving of black punishment,
as if there had not first been One
who did what He had done.
Of course I am only a little bookkeeper
verifying ice-hard facts,
signing off on them, as on a decree
that will also be enforced to me
in a future of no perhaps.
The Original:
עתיד ללא-אולי
גבריאל פרייל
אני מוחק כל-כך הרבה שמות
מפנקסי הקטן. הם אינם.
קודם-לכן מחק אותם
רב-הרחמים
הפולש המזנק
מיער צלליו.
אני מוחק שמ אחר שם
מפנקסי הקטן. מרגיש עצמי
חייב ענשים אפלים,
כאילו לא הקדימני מי
עשה מה שעשה
קודם לכן
כמובן שאני רק פנקסן
מאשר עובדות קרחיות
חותם עליהן כעל גזר דין
שישתלט גם עליי
בעתיד של-לא-אולי.
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