Authors: Allegra Goodman
Paradise Park (56 page)
Now here we were outside on the green field, and the words were passionate, but the music was cool and slow. The music was soft like the soft grass.
Hinach yaffa raiti …
Hinach yaffa aynayich yonim …
Shiniech keader haketzuvot shelu min harachtzah….
Baleilot bikashti et sheahavah nafshi …
Bikashtiv vilo mitzativ …
Mitzuni hashomrim hasovivim ba ir….
Et sheahavah naphshi raitem?
Behold, you are beautiful, my love,
Behold, your eyes are like doves behind your veil;
Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, all paired. …
By night I sought him who my soul loves;
I looked for him, but I did not find him;
The watchmen of the city found me.
“Have you see him who my soul loves?”
Mikhail and I, and Zohar in the backpack, were dancing along among the couples, and the dance really was easy. Unlike my ladies Lillian and Henny and Estelle, Mikhail had no trouble with the steps. We were dancing the choruses and the last verses. The tape was winding down. Only then I realized that very quietly, without even intending to, I’d been singing along. And it was Hebrew poetry on my lips, but I understood exactly what I was singing. I knew all the words.
PARADISE PARK
A Dial Press Trade Paperback book
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Dial Press hardcover edition published March 2001
Delta Trade Paperback edition published May 2002
Dial Press Trade Paperback edition / March 2006
Published by
The Dial Press
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2001 by Allegra Goodman
The Dial Press and Dial Press Trade Paperbacks are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-49376
eISBN: 978-0-307-57371-1
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