To Dream in Hebrew.

Cohen, Leslie

TO DREAM IN HEBREW

   [I] never dreamed I'd learn to dream in Hebrew
   A tongue so strange its "hello" means "goodbye!"
   Yet my middle-of-the-nighttime conversations
   Resound with bakasha, toda, and dai.

   I never dreamed I'd learn to dream in Hebrew
   A tongue so turned around it says "night-good!"
   Yet yofi squirts from out of my unconscious
   As El Al touches safely down at Lod.

   I never dreamed I'd learn to dream in Hebrew
   A gendered tongue where breasts are masculine!
   Yet, while my English-thinking brain is napping,
   The Hebrew syllables pitom slip in.

   I never dreamed I'd learn to dream in Hebrew
   A tongue silenced millennia ago
   Yet, twenty years of gnashing teeth together
   And, davka, it no longer halts, but flows!

   I never dreamed I'd learn to dream in Hebrew
   A tongue that mustn't say the Maker's Name.
   Yet, through the labyrinthine city echoes
   "Oseh shalom," to guide me home again.