God Pities the Nursery Children

A Translation of Yehudah Amichai’s ‘God Pities the Nursery Children’ [אלוהים מרחם על ילדי הגן ] from Hebrew.

 

God pities the nursery children,

He pities school children even less

As for the גדולים [big ones], He will pity no more –

He’ll let them fend for themselves.

Sometimes, they crawl on all-fours

In scorching sands to reach

The pick-up point

 

And they swallow blood.

 

Perhaps he grants lovers his mercy,

His attention, his salvation,

As an oak shades the restful

On a public bench

 

Perhaps to them we will give

Our last tokens of grace

Handed down to us by אמא [mum],

So that together they may protect us

On this, and other days. ∎

Words by Ore Gazit. Art by Aryan Goenka.