"When Adam sleeps, rain dowses the light.."
More Perihelion:
Bob Sward's Writer's Friendship Series
A quick list to poets featured in this issue:
translated from the Hebrew by Jeff Friedman
and Nathan Schwartz
Eve
I love Adam. Like God, he is wise
When Adam sleeps, rain dowses the light
In the precise light of dawn, Adam's warm hand
Yet every bush that reaches for the sun
Jeff Friedman is the author of three collections of poetry: Taking Down the Angel (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2003), Scattering the Ashes (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1998), and The Record-Breaking Heat Wave (BkMk Press- University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1986). His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including American Poetry Review, Poetry, The Antioch Review, The Missouri Review, Manoa, New England Review and 5 AM.
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and generous, and his blood is precious,
but the serpent whispers cruel thoughts in my ear,
his sweet breath passing over my body.
in the garden, and the birds grow silent and fearful.
He calls me from the bushes, he calls me from the leaves
kindling a fire in my heart: "Taste it," he says, "taste it."
caresses me, and he finds comfort on my breast
for he listens to the sound of my heart.
leans to a different side in the dark, and the garden
is lush and lovely until night falls among the leaves.
Nathan Schwartz is a former Israeli soldier who now lives in the U.S.A.