After You've Gone

Written by Zeev KachelTranslated by Uvi Poznansky
Somewhere at night a string sings outAll's dark, silent, filled with doubtI'm alone, and you?Out there, in the cold, a string sings out
Forgive me ma, that under your wingA poet grew, only to sing Forgive me ma, I knew no way but runI was a defiant son!
In your life I sang you no songs, but now I miss—Forgive me ma, that I wiped off your kissWhich you gave me, thinking I were asleep...Now, after you're gone, I confess and I weep
I loved no one like you!After you were gone, I knewI had travelled to a place so alien, so coldHow bitter it had felt, to you I never told.
How you waited to receive a word from me, a letter,How I missed you! Only now I know betterNo longer am I ashamed to say, to try:Forgive me ma, now at last I am allowed to cry.

This is a watercolor painting--the largest I have painted--of my father. Measuring 40" x 30", this is called 'Silence of the Bard. 
Why a Bard? Because even though my father never played a musical instrument he composed beautiful images using the music of words. This is why the impression of the strings extends out into the landscape, which becomes a melodically conceived universe. 
And, why Silence? because he never shared his latest poetry with anyone. It is not been read by others, until now, until I published this book in his tribute: Home.