"Quick and Bitter"

The end was quick and bitter.

Slow and sweet was the time between us,

slow and sweet were the nights

when my hands did not touch one another in despair

but with the love of your body

which came between them.

And when I entered into you

it seemed then that great happiness

could be measured with the precision

of sharp pain. Quick and bitter.

Slow and sweet were the nights.

Now is as bitter and grinding as sand –

'We shall be sensible' and similar curses.

And as we stray further from love

we multiply the words,

words and sentences so long and orderly.

Had we remained together

we could have become a silence.

~ Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000)

translated by Assia Gutmann