A Vision Poem by Abraham Sutzkever

For David Pinsky

Whence the storm on Mount Carmel?
From a rock.
I saw
A cloud-hammer cleave the rock
And from inside its stone burst a storm —
A chariot of fire,
Its wheels — four stars
On blue, diamond axles —
Plowed my body
Under the clouds.
And in the chariot
Looms a figure, into its face are kneaded
The faces of all people, animals, plants …

And it was, as I thirsted out my yearning for the vision,
A wheel of rays engulfed me in its eddy.
And I flew in the wheel
Between sea and clouds —
A star in the talons of an eagle …
And ere my thought filled up my eyes,
And ere my lips bled with a word —
Swam up a city of black pearl-fogs,
A primeval legend, encrusted with volcanic lava.

And I recognized:
The city of all my loved ones,
The city with no one, no one but my tears.
And the city was split asunder
As a moment ago
The rock on Mount Carmel …
And from the earth,
In a chariot of fire,
Rise all my loved ones.

… Soon
We fly
Together with the city
Back to Mount Carmel,
And the figure filled with faces of people, animals, trees,
Blesses all who dwell in the city
As Jacob blessed his sons.

1951