by Marjorie Agosin
1.
More than believing in God,
My father believed in men and the word
That he shared with humble nobility
He was sparse in his words
And generous in his loves
The day of his death
Hebrew prayers were with him
His body turned to stone
Or memory
Maybe he concluded his wanderings and diasporas
He returned to the root of language
Clear seed in the diaphanous roundness of earth
Translated by Laura Rocha Nakazawa