Peace, Tania and Shimon

Tanya Reinhart (1944-2007) and Shimon Tzabar (1926-2007)

Intensive Care
by Shimon Tzabar

My heart beats too slow.
My heart beats too fast.
My heart doesn't beat middling -
middling as life,
middling as the blood streams,
middling as the joy that flows,
as oxygen that goes in and out.
Middling is what it ought to be
in order to survive in good company,
to raise children.
My heart doesn't want to beat middling.
My heart wants to fly to the end of the world
like a bird.
My heart wants to swim under water
like a fish.
My heart is crazy, crazy and mad.
My heart dreams adventure impossible to realize.
My heart has a screw loose in its head.

November 1998