Naomi's song

We have reached the borderland - over there is my country
I do not exactly now it, but it is familiar, recalls my youth
they talk my language and they eat my food.

You speak to me of your land - which I (absurdly) thought I knew
It is a terrifying place, as you recount it
there are stamping boots and secrets in dark places
mouths fettered and beating whips
the small and helpless are abandoned
horror and blackness
(Entreat me not to leave thee)

What can I do?
Shall I return with you
into those murky places, the smoke, the barbed wire
the fearful power, the stifled screams?

I think
I look out towards that horizon
I will find a tree, a rock, a cave in the desert
I will remember
the scourges and the affliction
and then
I will entreat you not to leave me
ruth, my daughter