(p. 32) from “Letter of Recommendation,” Yehuda Amichai
... This is not a scar you feel under my shirt.
It’s a letter of recommendation, folded,
from my father:
“He is still a good boy and full of love.”
I remember my father waking me up
for early prayers. He did it caressing
my forehead, not tearing the blanket away.
Since then I love him even more.
And because of this
let him be woken up
gently and with love
on the Day of Resurrection.
Wouldn’t you like to be a parent whose children asked that you be resurrected so gently, because you had been so gentle to them?
