I, May I Rest in Peace
by Yehuda Amichai
I, may I rest in peace–I, who am still living, say
May I have peace in the rest of my life.
I want peace right now while I’m still alive.
I don’t want to wait like that pious man
who wished for one leg of the golden chair of Paradise,
I want a four-legged chair right here, a plain wooden chair.
I want the rest of my peace now.
I have lived out my life in wars of every kind;
battles without and within, close combat, face-to-face, the faces always
my own, my lover-face, my enemy face,
Wars with the old weapons–sticks and stones, blunt axe, words, dull
ripping knife, love and hate,
and wars with newfangled weapons–machine guns, missile, words, land
mines exploding, love and hate.
I don’t want to fulfill my parents’ prophesy that life is war.
I want peace with all my body and all my soul.
Rest me in peace.