We the Children of the Second Generation

We the children of the second generation

Awake in the morning, and we know that on our arm

We inherited a tattoo, a number not to be forgotten

We the children of the second generation,

Our luck was to be born after the first generation

And to know that there will never be another second generation.

We the children of the second generation, awake in the morning and ask questions

To which we will not receive answers, we the children of the second generation,

Know that in our parents’ bedroom they sleep awake

We the children of the second generation

Every daily action like shopping in the shuk is in the shadow of the hunger

of others. Every entrance to a building means checking for an escape door.

Every nighttime act is the progeny of impulse and fear,

To love more because one must bear more children.

We the children of the second generation, eagerly seek you, the closest forest

We the children of the second generation,

have in our dictionary a different definition to words like:

Train, shower, camp, hut, chimney or work.

On the Sabbath eve, when the table is set and dressed in white,

I tell the story, second hand

I build a home and I see its ruins.

Soon I will go and take with me

The silences and my childhood

That has no second

And my adulthood created

By all of my fear.

Translation: Toby Klein Greenwald