Dahlia Ravikovitch [or Ravikovich]

Dahlia Ravikovitch is considered one of the foremost Israeli poetic voices of the twentieth century. She was born on November 18, 1936 in Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb. Her father Levy was an engineer and her mother Michal

Delight

by Dahlia Ravikovitch [or Ravikovich] (1936–2005)

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19

There did I know a delight beyond all delight,

And it came to pass upon the Sabbath day

As tree boughs reached for the sky with all their might.

Round and round like a river streamed the light,

And the wheel of the eye craved the sunwheel that day.

Then did I know a delight beyond all delight.

The heads of the bushes blazed, insatiable bright
Sunlight striking the waves, igniting the spray.
It would swallow my head like a golden orange, that light.

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