{"id":45217,"date":"2018-12-04T18:28:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T16:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45217"},"modified":"2022-06-29T12:12:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T09:12:59","slug":"the-lepers-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-lepers-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"The Leper\u2019s Wife"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My husband is a leper.
\nThe smell of ruptured putrid boils
\nThat cover his decomposing flesh
\nAnd infect his rotting skin
\nRepulses even the flies.<\/p>\n

My husband is a leper.
\nThe bell around his neck clanks and clinks,
\nWarning all who might come near,
\nAs if he were an ox that gores.
\n\u201cImpure! \u00a0Impure!\u201d he lisps as he limps.<\/p>\n

My husband is a leper.
\nChildren, crueler than the dogs that growl at him,
\nThrow stones and spit;
\n\u201cFilth! Pig!\u201d they snarl, \u201cGo back to your cesspool!\u201d<\/p>\n

But I,
\nI chase away the children and the dogs;
\nI accompany my husband as he inches along,
\nSupporting him, walking with him arm in arm.<\/p>\n

Each morning I wake up early, go to the village well
\nAnd bring back fresh, cool water to wash the pus
\nFrom his legs, his arms, his eyes,
\nThen bind his wounds with clean, white gauze.<\/p>\n

Because his fingers \u2014 disjointed and swollen \u2014
\nCannot hold a fork or knife,
\nI feed my husband as if he were a child,
\nAs he sits in the dust and ashes.<\/p>\n

And my fingers have grown nimble and skilled
\nWhen I search his hair for lice by candlelight,
\nNight by night.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not stay with me,\u201d my husband stammers
\nAs I scrape his boils with a potsherd;
\n\u201cGive me up, live a better life,\u201d he begs.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not ask me to leave you,\u201d I answer
\nAnd hold his hand in mine;
\n\u201cWherever you go, I will go,
\nWherever you lodge, I will lodge.
\nDo not speak as one of little faith;
\nYou will yet heal, I know this.<\/p>\n

You will leap from cliff to cliff,
\nLike a gazelle on mountains of frankincense.
\nYou will build us a house of polished ivory
\nAnd plant us vineyards and orchards and gardens of spices;
\nWe will go down together to gather our lilies
\nThat grow in our bed of sweet herbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

My husband weeps when I comfort him,
\nWhen I place his head on my lap
\nAnd gently stroke his mangy hair;
\nI whisper to him that he is like a cluster of henna,
\nbag of myrrh that lies between my breasts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd one day,\u201d I promise him,
\n\u201cOne day I will bear you a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

My husband is a leper.
\nBut I will never leave him,
\nI will never abandon
\nThis husband,
\nWhom I love,
\nIsrael.<\/p>\n

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