IMPROVISATION #35
(AT THE TIME OF SUNSET
Yehuda Amichai 1924-2000)

A wind of mountain breath
from an Olive tree leaf
at the time of sunset
we keep our invisible belief
our garments were rent
in consolable grief
from an honorable
Tetragrammaton
of an undecipherable name
once held in secret
since the genesis story
in creation of His glory
and at the dawn of your death
releasing birds drinking from
nature's changing metamorphosis
is still seasonable
and comprehensible
from a river words from songs
until oblivion reaches
on angel wings of birds
over the Tel Aviv beach
we poets will cover you
with a shawl
deliver and deposit your
memory by the wall,
from the desert fountain
you linger,Yehuda
in your sleep
shepherds are still heard
by a call of the ram's horn
reciting David's psalms
spinning in your dreams
we hold onto a lamb
among villages
in our contemplation
fulfilling in the shalom
of an ancient language
from "I AM"who ''I AM"
since we are all born
from Abraham
to believe and assuage
our daughters and sons
of Mount Zion
from our grief we keep.