Shaul
Carmel
What I am looking for
from time to time
Did you ask me what I was looking
for
and why I came again to visit
your
Own land from time to time?
I'll tell you why.
I don't come to your land to
sell or buy.
I'm looking for my youth and
for the host
Of memories I happen to have
lost
In my old house. I'm looking
for tomb-stones
In cemeteries where I have the
bones
Of my ancestors, whom the waves
of time
Had brought to your land long
ago, sometimes.
I'm looking for my own grand-father's
tomb,
The tomb of the old Rabbi Joseph
whom
The enemies had wounded in the
war
(It is your land that
he was fighting for).
I'm looking for my father's
tomb somewhere
Near a small town call Lespezi.
He fell there
Killed by the assassins who
spoilt your land;
I'mlooking for theplace he fell
in sand.
My father's name was Marcu and
he was
An honest soldier fighting for
your cause.
These are the things that I am
looking for,
The reasons that I come to visit
your
Own country. And I hope now
you see why
When I come back toyou I laugh
and cry
Raising my glass of wine again
for true
Good hospitality - both old
and new.
Author's note:
This poem is an answer to the question: "What are you looking
for
in our countrty from time to time?" This
queer question was put by the Romanian writer Paul Everac in his pamphlet
"The Homeland and the Duties" (1983) and it was addressed tipeople who
had left Romania and come back as tourist, to visit their native land.