Sample Poems by Dara Barnat

---

Bayit (Home)


I do not live here
to stand in awe
of the land.

Nor must I touch
the earth to experience
its sorrow.

This is the place
that would have me, so
I have breathed in

a thousand days
of hamsin, air
yellow, hot

with dust.
I speak Hebrew, even
when I am metta

miayefut, needing
to rest in my own
language.

It is the cost
of a sort of freedom,
and I'm bound

to what makes me sort of free.

---

South to Be'er-Sheva

May 2010


I watch through the window
of the train, until we reach

the desert. Then I have to turn
away, because who knew

how bright sand could be? Next to me,
a solider has fallen asleep

with a gun in his lap. Who knows
what he's seen today?

Dusk falls, so I turn my face
to the window again. Who knew

that train tracks were built so close
to villages? In the desert

there are houses for people
who believe they are graves


for the living. I'm wondering what
came first, the houses or

the train tracks. Surely, it's the sand
that will outlive everyone.

---

In the Sinai Desert


I.

Approach the Red Sea
at dawn. As if
in worship, kneel.

II.

Rest your palms
on the surface
of the water.

III.

Let patterns of salt form
on your fingers,
like latticework.

IV.

Let the patterns dissolve; life
can't help
its own fragility.

---

December, Love Poem, Tel Aviv


A dogwood tree in bloom.
In the chill, white
flowers on the branches.