WILL I,
HEVEL,
HEAL MY VICTIMHOOD?

2002_05_21

Hilde Domin
A German Jewish poet

 

 

Hevel STEH AUF
1968

read by herself in front of an audience
in Kassel, Germany, Februar 1986

 

Hevel stand up
It must be played anew
Daily must it be played anew
Daily the answer must still be ahead of us
the answer must be able to be YES

If you don't stand up, Hevel
How can the answer,
this only important answer
ever change?

We can close all churches
and abolish all law books
in all the earth's languages
if ony you will stand up
and undo
the first wrong answer
to the only question
that's at stake.

Stand up
so that Kayin will say,
so that Can will be able to say,
I am your keeper,
how couldn't I be your keeper.

Daily stand up,
so we have this ahead of us,
this Yes, I am here,
I, your brother,
so that Hevel's children will not fear anymore,
because Kayin will not become Kayin.

I write this, a child of Hevel,
and fear the answer daily,
the air in my lung becomes less,
as I wait for the answer.

 

Hevel stand up,
so it will start differently between all of us.
The fires, that burn,
the fire, that burns on earth,
should be the fire of Hevel
and on the tail of the rockets
should be the fires of Hevel.