יהודה עמיחי כלב אחרי האהבה A Dog After Love, Yehuda Amichai

כלב אחרי האהבה
 
אַחֲרֵי שֶׁעָזַבְתְּ אוֹתִי
נָתַתִּי לְכֶלֶב גִשׁוּשּ לְהָּרִיחַ
בְּחָזִי וְּבִבְטִני
יְמָלֵּא נְחִירָיו
וְיֵצֵא לִמְצֹא אוֹתָךְ
אֲנִי מְקַוֶּה שֶׁיִּמְצָא וְיִקְרַע
אֶת אֶשְׁכֵי מְאַהֲבֵךְ וְיִכְרת שִׁפְכָתוֹ
אוֹ לְכָל הַפָּחוֹת
יָבִיא לִי גֶרֶב שֶׁלָךְ בֵּין שׁינָּיו

A Dog after Love

After you left me
I let a dog smell
my chest and my belly.
It fills its snout
and sets out to find you.
I hope it finds
and tears your lover´s testicles
and bites off his prick.
Or at the very least
brings me your pantyhose
between his teeth.

translated into English by Mark F Westergreen

Comments________________________________________________________________ 

But one day in 1989, he sat down with the man who some call the most widely translated Hebrew poet since King David. Here's Henry Lyman to introduce him. Mr. HENRY LYMAN (Host, "Poets To a Listener') He is Yehuda Amichai, a warm-hearted bear of a man  

I like this poem because it is a dog poem, a jilted lover´s poem and it has a biblical undertone. As is often the case in human experience when a lover is jilted, it is not the ex-lover, but her new man who becomes the main object of scorn and hate. In this poem the jealous wish is quite violent. It is not only to prevent the new lover from having sex with her and from being able to procreate, but to cut him off from God´s people, or the community, entirely! The term שִׁפְכָה occurs once in the Tanakh at Deut 23.1-2 in connection with this very prohibition. Amichai´s Poetry is full of biblical allusions and connections.

To this end, the poet employs a dog. The term "dog" in the Bible is used as a euphemism for a male prostitute. Of course we all know the various connotations of the term in most modern languages, and I am certain if our sample size for biblical Hebrew was larger we would find the same usage. The title itself is an integral part of the poem and self-referential, as to the behavior of the narrator within the poem itself. He is behaving like a "dog", that is, like a low down, dirty scoundrel, in the modern sense of the term. Amichai certainly created and nurtured a larger than life image of himself within his poetry as a machismo filled lover of women. And this is a glimpse at its dark side.

But why does he want her stockings? Does he want a trophy to perserve a memory? Perhaps.
That would be in the nature of a dog, so to say. Does he want to expose her nakedness? Perhaps. That would cut her off from the Lord´s assembly as well (v.; Ex 20:26; 28:42; 1 Sam 16:8 & especially Ezek 16:8).

Actually, there is a bit of dissonance occurring between גרב וגבר (hero, man, stud, and stocking, pantyhose). By this line in the poem one expects to hear גבר but gets גרב instead. And a dog would do that too! Disappoint the expectations of its master who sent it out to do such a dirty job, only to return, looking up, happily wagging its tail with a pair of pantyhose hanging between its teeth.

Here is an interesting article discussing a judaistic perspective on dogs:  Of Canines and Commandments.

Euphemisms for "Penis" in Hebrew

بشار بن برد يا صاح قم Bashar ibn Burd, Comrade, get up

يا صاح قمْ فاسقني بالكأس إعرابا ولا تُطعْ عاقباً فينا وعقَّابا
إنّ الهوى حسنٌ حتَّى تدنِّسهُ فاطْلُبْ هَوَاكَ سَتيراً وارْعَ أحْبابا
واحفظ لسانك في الواشين إنَّ لهمْ عيْناً ترُودُ وتنْفيراً وإِلْهابا
لا تغش سرَّ فتاة ٍ كُنْتَ تألفُها إنَّ الكريم لها راعٍ وإن تابا
واسعدْ بما قال في الحلم ابنُ "ذي يزنٍ" يلهو الكرامُ ولا ينسون أحسابا
جَدُّ امْرىء ٍ جَارَهُ من كلِّ فاضحة ٍ فانهض بجدٍّ تنلْ جاهاً وإكسابا
قدْ شفَّني حزنٌ ضاق الفواد ُبه وسرَّني زائرٌ في النَّوم منتابا
باتت عروساً وبتنا معرسينَ بها حتَّى رأينا بياضَ الصُّبح منجابا
وقائلٍ :نامَ عنْ "أسماءَ" شاكية ً لا نَوَّمتْ عيْنه إِنْ كان كذَّابَا
ما زلْتُ في الْغَمِّ من وِرْدٍ يُقلِّبُها كأنَّني فيه لا ألقى له بابَا
بلْ كيْف أُسقى علَى الرَّيْحان مُتَّكئاً وقدْ تعلَّقتُ من "أسماءَ" أسبابا
عاد الهوى بلقاء الغرِّ منْ "جشمٍ" يمشين تحت الغمام الغرِّ أترابا
علِّقتُ منهنَّ شمسَ الدَّجن أو قمراً غدا لنا لابساً درعاً وجلبابا
لا أشْتهي بهواهُ جِنَّة ً أُنُفاً ولوْ تَدَلَّتْ لنا تِيناً وأعْنَابَا
للَّه دَرُّ فتاة ٍ منْ بني «جُشم» ما أحْسنَ الْعيْنَ والْخدَّيْن والنَّابَا
تريكَ في القول جشَّاباً وإنْ ضحكتْ أرتك من ثغرها المثلوج جشّابا
بدا لنا منظرٌ منها اعتبرتُ به وشاهدُ المسك يلقى الأنف ما غابا
قدْ زُيِّنتْ بالْمُحيَّا صُورة ً عجباً وزانها كفلٌ رابٍ وما عابا
إذا رآها نساءُ الحيِّ قلن لها: سُبْحان منْ صاغها! يُغْرقْن إِطْنابا
كأنَّما خُلقتْ منْ جِلْد لُؤْلُوة ٍ نفساً من العطرِ إنْ حرَّكتها ثابا
يطيبُ مسوكها منْ طيب ريقتها وإنْ ألمَّ بجلدٍ جلدها طابا
تلْك التي أرْجَلَتْني بالْهوى سنة ً وكُنْتُ للْمُهْرة الْحسْناء رَكَّابا
لم أنسها طالعتْ منْ تحت كلَّتها فأعْلقتْ عامرِيًّا بعْد ما شَابَا
يا «أسْم» جُودي بِمْعرُوفٍ نعِيشُ بِهِ ولا تكُونِي لنا حرْباً وأوْصابا
واللهِ أنْساكِ يا «أسْماءُ» ما طَرفَتْ عيني وما قرقرَ القمريُّ إطرابا

Friend, get up and give me a drink in a glass like a real Arab, not keeping tabs amongst us and punishing.
The pleasure is fine until you debase it, demanding your secret desire and scarring loved ones.
Keep your tongue from scorning what they hold dear, seducing, estranging, and setting ablaze.
Don´t kiss and tell if you are intimate with her, (let it be) honorable, admirable and imploring.
Be happy with that crazy comment of “Yazan´s” son, The noble ones love to have fun but do not forget about their reputations.
Always bringing up the complaints of his kinsmen on account of every dishonor, in order to raise anew that you bestow respect and presents.
Certainly my lips are grieved and my heart saddened, my secret visitor in sleep exposed.
She was the bride and we were the grooms for her, until we saw the light of dawn penetrating.
Someone said, "forget, what´s his name,  the accused,  his can´t be lulled to sleep" - that´d be perjury.
I´m still upset from his arrival with roses, she fell head over heels for him, it caused me to not greet him at the door.
Nay how could I drink at his departure, being burned, yet being devoted to what´s his name, and for self-purposes. 
The pleasure returned in the risky rendezvous with Fatty, walking under perilous clouds, paramours.
I keep some of them tied up and waiting - domesticated suns or moons, we have tomorrow to wear armor and a pinafore.
Don´t be seduced by his pleasure garden - refuse, but figs and dates if it is us you want to pamper.
How excellent a girl of the Gush family, what´s better her eyes, cheeks or pearly whites?
She describes you in biting terms, ridiculing you in laughter with her ice cold lips -bitterly.
To us she certainly made a scene, I learned a lesson from him, witnessing the groveling conclusion and surrendering of pride - what a finale!
She dolled herself up into a striking image, compared to that her ass is used and only worthy of abuse.
When the women of the tribe on seeing her say „her shape is sublime“ they are engaging in exaggeration.
As if she were a string of pearls, or a drug that excited them and set them erotically dancing.
The musk of her sweet sweat is pleasing, yet it pains me to whip her hide for the pleasure.
This is the year in which I became a man acquainted in the ways of pleasure, and for that filly I was the best rider.
I will not forget her climbing up from down under and pouring herself out, her breasts suspended, after that I was a man.
May the reputation of my generosity be famous as long as we live, so don´t be enraged at us or pained.
and may God cause you, whatever your name is, not to forget, for one moment, the pleasure.

translated into English by Mark F Westergreen

Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya, Al-Ḥamasa السموأل بن عادياء‎ שמואל בן עדיה

إذا المرء لم يدنس من اللوم عرضُهُ فكلُّ رداءٍ يرتديه جميلُ
وإن هو لم يَحْمِلْ على النفس ضَيْمْها فليس إلى حسن الثناء سبيل
تُعَيِّرُنا أنّا قليلٌ عديدُنا فقلتُ لها إنّ الكرام قليل
وما قلّ من كانت بقاياه مِثْلَنا شبابٌ تَسَامَى للعُلا كهول
وما ضَرَّنا أنّا قليلٌ وجارُنا عزيزٌ وجارُ ألاكثرين ذليل
لنا جَبَلٌ يحتلّه من نُجيره منيعٌ يَرُدُّ الطرفَ وهْو كليل
رسا أصلُه تحت الثرى وسما به إلى النجم فرعٌ لا يُنال طويل
وإنّا لقومٌ ما نرى القتل سُبَّةً إذا مارأتْه عامرٌ وسَلُول
يُقَرِّبُ حبُّ الموت آجالَنا لنا وتكرهه آجالُهم فتطول
وما مات منّا سيّدٌ حَتْفَ أنْفِه ولا طُلَّ منّا حيث كان قتيل
تسيل على حدّ الظبات نفوسُنا وليست على غيرالظبات تسيل
صَفَوْنا فلم نكدر وأخلص سرَّنا إناثٌ أطابت حملَنا وفحول
عَلَوْنا إلى خير الظهور وحَطَّنا لوقت إلى خير البطون نُزُول
فنحن كماء المُزْنِ ما فى نِصابنا كهامٌ ولا فينا يُعَدُّ نخيل
ونُنكر إن شئنا على الناس قولّهم ولا ينكرون القول حين نقول
إذا سيّدٌ مِنّا خلا قام سيّدٌ قَؤُولُ لما قال الكرامُ فَعُول
وما أُخْمِدَتْ نارٌ لنا دون طارق ولا ذمّنا فى النازلين نَزِيلُ
وأيّامُنا مشهورةٌ فى عدوّنا لها غُرَرٌ معلومةٌ وحُجُولُ
وأسيافُنا فى كّل غربٍ وشرقٍ بها من قراع الدارعين فلول
معوَّدةً أن لا تُسَلَّ نِصالها فتُغْمَدَ حتّى يُستباحَ قبيل
سَلىِ إن جهلتِ الناس عناّ وعنهمُ وليس سواءً عالمٌ وجَهول
فإنّ بنى الديّان قطبٌ لقومهم تدور رحاهم حولهم وتجول

When a man´s honor is not defiled by baseness, then every cloak he cloaks himself in is comely.

And if he has never constrained himself to endure despite, then there is no way to goodly praise.

She was reproaching us, that we were few in numbers, so I said to her "Indeed, noble men are few.

Not few are they whose remnants are like to us - youths who have climbed to the heights, and old men too.

It harms us not that we are few, seeing that our kinsman is mighty, whereas the kinsman of the most part of men is abased.

We have a mountain where those we protect come to dwell, impregnable, turning back the eye and it a-weary.

Its trunk is anchored beneath the soil, and a branch soars with it to the stars, unattainable, tall.

We indeed are a folk who deem not being killed a disgrace, though Amir and Salul may consider it.

The love of death brings our term near to us, but their term hates death, and is therefore prolonged.

Not one sayyid of ours ever died a natural death, nor was any slain of ours ever left where he lay unavenged.

Our souls flow out along the edge of the sword blades, and do not flow out along other than sword blades.

We have remained pure and unsullied, and females and stallions who bore us in goodly fame kept intact our stock.

We climbed on to the best of backs, and a descending brought us down in due time to the best of bellies.

We are as the water of the rain-shower, in our metal is no bluntness, neither is any miser numbered amongst us.

We disapprove if we will of what other men say, but they disavow never words spoken by us.

Whenever a sayyid of ours disappears, a sayyid arises, one eloquent to speak as noble men speak, and strong to act moreover.

No fire of ours was ever doused against a night-visitor, neither has any casual guest alighting found fault with us.

Our days are famous amongst our foes, they have well-marked blazes and white pasterns,

and our swords in all the west and east have been blunted from smiting against armoured warriors;

their blades are accustomed not to be drawn and then sheathed until the blood of a host is spilled.

If you are ignorant, ask the people concerning us and them, and he who knows and he who is ignorant are not equal."

Surely the Banu ´l-Daiyan are as a pole for their people, their mills turn and rotate around them.
__________________________________________________________________________________
English translation taken and slightly modified from A.J. Arberry´s Arabic Poetry a Primer for Students

The poem is full of a vibrant machismo which extols the excellence of the Banu `l-Daiyan while hurling impertinent insults and invective against the opponent and enemy. It encompasses and preserves an idealized, aristocratic, masculine, warrior ethos. In the end, it is a response to an insult hurled by an unnamed and unknown woman. While the Banu ´l-Daiyan are as a pole for their people, their mills turn and rotate around them this poem turns and rotates around this unnamed woman´s insult.  

Arabic poems usually name the women which appear in them, e.g.; the idealized beloved of the poet, but not so in this poem.  Her insult you are few implies so much more: you are small, weak, pathetic, cowardly, easily conquered, etc., etc..  Of course the response to this one, little insult is the remainder of the poem filled with its bravado and hyperbole. In the process an idealized image and ethos of what it means to be a male member of the Banu `l-Daiyan emerges. Was she a member of the warring tribe and enemy coming out to meet them in battle? Was she a recent captive, the booty and spoils of war, or was she a member of the Banu `l-Daiyan, some one´s wife or concubine? Of course, not naming her is also a tactic of the poet. She is the antithesis of the Beloved, she is the Unbeloved, the Slanderess. Her insult serves as the occassion for this poem, and excepting that, she is best forgotten. 

All of Arabic poetry of the Jahiliyya has been highly redacted, if not, outright created by the early Grammarians. The poem is highly stylized and we will likely never know if Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya wrote this poem, it was written to celebrate him, or has nothing to do with him at all and it was only attributed to him out of tradition. Arberry and other sources mention that Amir and Salul are rival tribes, and Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya may not have even been a member of the Banu `l-Daiyan.  The reference "We have a mountain..." may or may not be a reference to Samaw´al´s castle near Taima.

 

بشار بن برد - منَ المشهورِ بالحبِّ "Whoever would be Renowned in Hanky-Panky" by Bashar ibn Burd

منَ المشهورِ بالحبِّ إِلَى قَاسِيَة ِ الْقَلْبِ

 سَلاَمُ اللّه ذِي الْعَرَشِ على وجهكِ ياحبِّي

فأمَّا بعدُ يا قرَّة َ عيني ومنى قلبي

ويا نفسي التي تســكُنُ بَيْنَ الْجَنْبِ والْجَنْبِ

لقدْ أنكرتُ يا عبدَ جفاءً منكِ في الكتبِ

أعَنْ ذَنْبٍ وَلاَ واللَّهِ مَا أحْدَثْتُ مِنْ ذَنْبِ

ولاَ والله ما في الشَّرْقِ منْ أنثى ولاَ الغربِ

سِوَاكِ اليوم أهواها على جدِ ولا لعبِ

Whoever would be renowned in hanky-panky, ought to become hardhearted.
Your semblance is the peace that surpasses all understanding, honey.
So then, my darling and the destiny of my heart,
Yeah even my soulmate who resides here within this home.
Certainly I don´t know what you mean, Abbey, the messages from you were so harsh.
A howler? No, by God, what have I made for a howler?
No, by God, not in the East, nor in the West, there is no handmaiden
except you. Today I dropped her, in all seriousness and no hoax.*

translated by Mark F Westergreen

Meaningful glances alone can still be ambiguous or unsatisfying. Gifts are more substantial, and as fetishists go, few can outdo the lover who dropped her used toothbrush that Bashar ibn Burd picked up. The grateful poet said, "I kissed the thing that touched her mouth, and wished I were it."

*the last line can also be read:

Today I picked up your toothbrush, in all seriousness and it didn't dash hopes.