You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.
Skip Navigation

Ararat

As all the survivors of the ark burst ashore

in a happy pandemonium

chattering, roaring, howling for prey

lowing to be fruitful and multiply

while above their heads the rainbow hinted

that there would be no end again--the end came

for the fish without cares who lived

off the catastrophe like slippery swindlers:

now on the face of the stiffening earth

the writhing fins were stranded

and with gaping mouths they drowned in the air.

Translated from the Hebrew by Leon Wieseltier

For more TNR, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.