Page 11 - Issue 23

Every Person Needs an Egypt Land
By Amnon Ribak

Translation by Lila Veissid

Every person needs to have an Egypt Land,
to pull himself out of it
with a strong hand
or through clenched teeth.

Every person needs a terror and great darkness,
and consolation, and a promise, and salvation,
for him to know how to lift up his eyes to the heavens.
Every person needs one prayer,
to be routinely in his mouth.
A person has to be bent over just once –
Every person needs a burden.

Every person needs to have an Egypt Land,
to redeem himself from it, from the house of bondage,
to go out in the middle of the night into the desert of fear,
to step straight into the waters,
to see them parting to both sides in front of him.
Every person needs a shoulder,
on which to carry Joseph's bones,
every person needs to stand up straight.

Every person needs to have an Egypt Land.
And Jerusalem, and one long journey
to remember forever through one's feet.