#0202_A_View_From_West_Jerusalem

“Who doesn’t know Danny [1], Ofir’s friend?
Danny loves predicting the weather.

One rainy day, Danny went in front of the screen,
Stared straight at the camera and so declared:
From tomorrow!
Cold snow!
Cold snow! Tomorrow!

Nir, the city’s mayor, heard
And hastened all of the city’s drivers:
From tomorrow! Cold snow!
Every tractor driver becomes a snowplow driver
So that the residents can get from the Kotel to the Mifletzet [2]

All of the children of Jerusalem also heard
And immediately raised their legs in dance
Liron on a tricycle with a bell, Yahav dressed in a heavy coat, Tzur playing a trumpeting trumpet, and Alit played along with a spoon and pot.
How fun to drum and sing:
From tomorrow! Cold snow! Cold snow! Tomorrow!
We won’t go to school and we’re not going to do our homework!
Just make snowmen and snowballs.

Separately, they cheered in homes and rooms
Also kids from other neighborhoods:
Chaimkeh and Yosef-Shalom and Avraham-Alakneh
And Sarah and Yocheved and Tzofiah and Emnuah.
And also in Beit Hanina, Abu Dis, and Shuafat
They ran after Danny the weatherman, every boy and girl,
They cheered and drummed and everyone together:
“From tomorrow! Cold snow!
Cold snow! From tomorrow!”

After the parade, the chorus, and the song
Morning’s dawn lit up
But what’s happening here? What, what, what?
Torrential rain and puddles in the ground
This is just regular winter, the heavens didn’t remember
That today they needed to bring down cold snow.
Everyone stopped singing and yelled at Danny:
‘What a liar!,’ ‘Oy!’ and ‘Oof,’
‘Danny, you are… a no-good nincompoop!’
‘What’s going on, did you forget?’
‘Where’s the snow you said we’d get?’

‘I didn’t promise,’ Danny says. ‘Really, all I said was that there would maybe be snow on some high peaks on mountains in the Merkaz [3], but most likely there will be a a mix of rain and, in any case, don’t get your hopes up.’

It was Shachaf’s place
To say out of thought or impulse
That her grandfather has ice cream
In place of the snow the group missed.
But she didn’t want to, and maybe didn’t remember
And everyone went onto school or work

Next year, if Danny says again
‘Tomorrow cold snow is expected in our area’ –
All of these actors will respond
In exactly the same way.
[…]
With our without snow – Shabbat Shalom Jerusalem!”

– Nir Barkat

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0202 Editors’ Notes:
[1] Danny Roup is a popular weatherman and news anchor in Israel.
[2] The Kotel refers to the Western Wall in the Old City and the Mifletzet (lit. monster) is a large statue, slide, and park in Kiryat Yovel on the opposite side of the city.
[3] Merkaz (lit. central) refers to the geographical center of Israel.

#Weather #Poetry #Nir_Barkat

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