Deceiving the Gods

[y66]

Deceiving the Gods

 

by Ellen Bass

 

The old Jews rarely admitted good fortune.

And if they did, they'd quickly add kinahora—

let the evil eye not hear. What dummkopf

would think the spirits were on our side?

But even in a tropical paradise

laden with sugarcane and coconut,

something like the shtetl's wariness exists.

In Hawaii, I'm told, a fisherman

never spoke directly, lest the gods

arrive at the sea before him.

Instead he'd look to the sky,

the fast-moving clouds, and say,

I wonder if leaves are falling in the uplands!

Let us go and gather leaves.

So, my love, today let's not talk at all.

Let's be like those couples

eating silently in restaurants,

barely a word the entire meal.

We pitied them, but now I see

they were always so much smarter than we were.

 

from Like a Beggar. © Copper Canyon Press, 2014.