a poem by yehuda amichai

Of Three or Four in a Room

Of three or four in a room

there is always one who stands beside the window.

He must see evil sprouting among the thorns

and fires on the hill.

And how men who went out of their houses whole

are given back in the evening like small change.

Of three or four in a room

there is always one who stands beside the window.

His dark hair over his thoughts.

Behind him, words.

And in front of him voices wandering without a knapsack,

hearts without supplies, prophecies without water,

and large stones which have been returned

and remain sealed, like letters which have no

address and no one to receive them.

Amichai, Yehuda. "Of Three or Four in a Room" Voices Within The Ark: The Modern Jewish Poets. New York: Avon Books, 1980.