Gingi

red head

Mother always says

My child has a head of gold,

A head of gold to my child

And on the street, they call me redhead – Gingi

At class they call me redhead

Even at night, deep in my pillow

My hair burns

Redhead

You have so many colours oh Lord

You spread light blue over the sky

And my mother’s eyes are brown

Green for the leaf and for the rose - pink

Or white or red and there’s more, and more

Many colours you have GOD

Many and beautiful

So why would you create yellow children? Lord? Yellow?

I cried tonight, before bed

And mother came over, and a tear in her eye

My darling, she whispered, my dear…

And late at night Elijah came

He stood by my bed and said: get up! Get up my child

He wrapped me in the wing of his coat

And carried me

Up and away

And there, in the havens, in the garden of Eden – a chamber

In the chamber – a thrown

And king David sat

Holding his sceptre

A lion to his right, a lion to his left

And before him stood his ministers and servants

And before him stood his thousands of soldiers

And all is gold

And under the crown his curls flow

Yellow are his curls

He is all red head

And king David said:

Come to me, little one,

My innocent one

Look – I am a Gingi as well,

He looked into my eyes

He looked into me

And whispered:

my little one, my little one

My red head

So said king David to me, so said king David

And my mother was there with me too

Whispering – my darling

My dear

Miryam Yallan Shtekelis – 1987

Art by Shachar Peled