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The Decree

It was a day as those gone by,
Clear and blue the sky
Shalom! We uttered,
see y'later we muttered,
By habit, by route,
With neither rancor nor doubt,
Little did we sense,
Nor did our ears at all detect,
Satan's taunting peels,
Hissing at our heels,
In malicious glee,
It shall never come to be!

Yet, along the garden path
Where in the soil's loamy bed
Hither and thither
Plowed our parting tread,
The decree was stamped in the furrows:
Nevermore, shall we share a tomorrow.

From the Hebrew by Yanki Tauber

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Merosh Zurim

• The present (p. 17)

• The voice of the soil (p. 30)

• The leader (p. 34)

• The Trap of Time (p. 35)

• The Mission (p. 38)

• On the Doorways (p. 57)

• Freedom of Choice (p. 78)

• Mealtime Guests (p. 79)

• The Windmill of the Poet (p. 94)

• A Strange Sight (p. 96)

• The Foundation (p. 98)

• In Hiding (p. 113)

• Ratzo V'Shov (p. 125)

• Eating (p. 163)