Yolki Flowers at Tel Hazika

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That autumn, when their time came,
The Yolki flowers bloomed on Tel Hazika.
On the rocks, among shredded helmets,
Dark yellow patches suddenly blossomed,
Blinding yellows, as if they warned:
You can never forget us,
We will never give you rest;
You will always, every autumn, wonder
From where came this yellow yolki color? From where
Came this egg-yolk color? And where is the swallowed
Rock, that turned to red, submerged,
Soured from forgotten blood?

 

Editor's notes:
Tel Hazika is the name of a basalt hill on the Golan Heights, where Porat's battalion had a bloody battle against the Syrian army in 1973. Yolki is the Hebrew name of a yellow flower that blooms every autumn, in the northern Israel, after the first rain.

translated from the Hebrew by the author and Ward Kelley