Homecoming
My house was ruined, my garden tread down,
And I, escaping death, made my way at random.
As I walked the long path, stones were hurled at me,
The shreds of my torn clothing also hindered my going.
In kind homes I sought refuge,
In northernmost countries and different ages.
But I was an outsider, a stranger everywhere,
Separated from the world by an invisible boundary.
The sins of others my shoulders bore,
I perished from gas, burned in the ovens,
I suffered with you, my people my fellow pilgrims,
And silence became my destiny.
I have forgotten how my people sang songs of gaiety,
Fear and grief have found an asylum within my heart,
I bore slaves who would come to know only mockery and evil,
And this is why I have cursed my own womb.
So if my people were to waste away, still the dawn has glimmered,
I shook off the burden of spent years,
Tired of searching for a peaceful habitation,
Tired of reproaches which are not all my own.
I will touch the ground with trembling hands,
Crushing in my palms the dry clumps of earth.
I will utter only "Shalom",
I will have come back to myself, I have returned to my home.
1973