A stamp honoring poet, novelist and critic Lea Goldberg - Image Credit: umich
I am currently reading The House of Special Purpose by one of my favorite authors, John Boyne. And as usual Boyne just wraps the tale so tightly around you that you are in his world for a long while. That is what is happening to me now. I am in Russia with Tsar Nicholas and Rasputin and Georgy the narrator of the story. Oh well, review coming soon. But the point is that, I happened to discover an Israeli poet who was born in Russia and spent a lot of her childhood there. Perfect to complement the book I am reading, I thought.
So I present to you Lea Goldberg, a highly revered Israeli poet. Goldberg’s poetry mostly deals with the mixed emotions that immigrants go through, another theme that runs through Boyne’s book. Longing, confusion, loneliness and nostalgia are all feelings that an émigré in a foreign land feels towards one’s homeland. Goldberg summons all this and more in one of her most well-known poems called Pine. I hope you all like this.
Pine
by
Lea Goldberg
Here I will not hear the voice of the cuckoo.
Here the tree will not wear a cape of snow.
But it is here in the shade of these pines
my whole childhood reawakens.
The chime of the needles: Once upon a time –
I called the snow-space homeland,
and the green ice at the river's edge -
was the poem's grammar in a foreign place.
Perhaps only migrating birds know -
suspended between earth and sky -
the heartache of two homelands.
With you I was transplanted twice,
with you, pine trees, I grew -
roots in two disparate landscapes.
by
Lea Goldberg
Here I will not hear the voice of the cuckoo.
Here the tree will not wear a cape of snow.
But it is here in the shade of these pines
my whole childhood reawakens.
The chime of the needles: Once upon a time –
I called the snow-space homeland,
and the green ice at the river's edge -
was the poem's grammar in a foreign place.
Perhaps only migrating birds know -
suspended between earth and sky -
the heartache of two homelands.
With you I was transplanted twice,
with you, pine trees, I grew -
roots in two disparate landscapes.
Aaah! Simple, lyrical yet beautiful poetry. As usual great choice poetry!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've never been uprooted from my homeland, I could still related to the feeling of "roots in two disparate landscapes" - only mine would be 'landscapes in the mind'...
Loved this poem!
Thank you for introducing me to Lea Goldberg and her beautiful, thought provoking poetry.
Thoughts - Thanks am happy you liked it :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful poetry! The best ones are those that evoke beautiful messages through simple lines. I am going to google this poet. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteVaishnavi - yes rightly put! glad you liked this poem :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poem, Birdy! Thanks for posting it :) I liked very much the fact that Lea Goldberg writes about pines and at the same time pines for her homeland - the title says so much!
ReplyDeleteVishy - Thanks, am glad you liked the poem :)
ReplyDelete