Poems from the Swords of Iron War.
He writes:
WAR
Sing to me of lovely things
Of hills and valleys and of man
Of streets swept clean and precious stones
Speak to the people, the writers, the lovers
The strong and merciful hands of brothers
Sparks
Victories
in the depths of the sea
Sergeant (res.) Shirael Stav, 924th Battalion, 12th Brigade
She writes:
DAYS UPON DAYS
Today I will swim
And by now I do not feel the earth under my feet
So I move automatically as I was taught
Until I lose my way
I only want to lay my body on firm ground
What I want to say, what I mean is
Come home...
Major Ravit Grossman David, Commander, Education Corps
These poems are taken from a new book, Hineni, a collection of poems of the spirit and writings of IDF soldiers, men and women, and written by them.
Most of the poets included are in active service during the current war, some as reservists and others as regular soldiers.
The book is a cooperative project of the Chief Commanding officer of the IDF Education Corps and the poetry magazine "Mashiv Haruach" - Returning the Spirit (paraphrasing the prayer Mashiv Haruach Umorid Hageshem" - He who makes the wind blow and the rain fall. Note that "wind" and "spirit" are the same word in Hebrew) whose editor is well known Israeli poet Eliaz Cohen.
Translated from Hebrew by Rochel Sylvetsky
