The universe has vanished. Only the sun
still remains. In silence
it wakes the emptiness.
Thus Mr. Silberman dreamt 1944.
An undestroyed past pieced with patches
of forty two years,
after a life-day in the Shoah* film.
That night the dream returned—
Water came back to life in a cloud
and fire in ash again revived.
Unfinished death
wrapped him like a wounded coat.
He woke mid-nightmare.
And with confident clarity, slowly put on
his Treblinka clothes, shaved with care,
made his bed, opened the gas, and
peaceful and sure went back to bed.
*Shoah = Holocaust
Translated by Karen Alkalay-Gut