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THE AGADIR EARTHQUAKE
I was three or four
There were always talk of it
as a fixed threat hanging over the heads
of those walking upon the land
and there was another earthquake
We went out at two o'clock in the morning
in panic in the car
the whole family aunts and uncles
to the sea
except my grandpa and grandma
who weren't awakened by the phone
nor by the hooting of the cars
of all the uncles driving near the house
nor from the knocking on the door
The next morning
everybody's intact
my grandma said she didn't feel anything
but my grandpa felt something moving,
maybe like he felt a few moments before his death
when he was brought back to life
and he shouted "why did you bring me back?"
around a big table I see my father and my mother and
my brother who went to Brazil
when I was twenty and haven't seen since then
A few hours later
a few days before
he was going to emigrate to Israel
he delivered his soul.