Sunday, April 25, 2010

a poem by gad hollander

Fugato (Coda)

I made a song and placed it far, near God,
a doublewind, a song of love;
I made it out of breath, it gasped for touch.
I made it in the empty mind, a thought
of smoke, of limb and skull, of memory;
I placed it far, a poem for the pure one.

I taught my song the algebra of praise,
it sang the praise of God, it sang in a space
confined to song, far, near God.
A doublewind, a song of love,
children pranced according to its rhythm,
and all the summers heard it, the summers of smoke.

I made it in my mind, and the empty sky
soon filled, and the far places heard it;
it gasped for God, I made it out of breath.
A song, a thought, a memory of song;
I made it once, and twice, and always.

I made a song and placed it far;
it sang the praise of God, in a space confined
to breath it sang. I made my song
in the empty mind, God claimed it as his own;
the song of love,
the doublewind.

Hollander, Gad. "Fugato (Coda)" Voices Within the Ark: The Modern Jewish Poets. New York: Avon Books,1980.