Poems by Nurit Kahana
For Eva
(living in hiding, 1943-44) The young girlin the photograph,seated at the entranceto a misty garden, cycled nightlythrough Amsterdam’s darkened streetsto help the Resistance. Post-war, she was overtakenby domestic chores – lost in thosespaces between the cooker,recipe-books and her daughters.Everyone praised her modesty:no-one mentioned her brave past. At her funeral, her brother declared her:‘Fighter in the Dutch Underground’acknowledging this heroine,the ethereal girl in the photographwho’d vanished long ago. Nurit Kahanatranslated from Hebrew byKatherine Gallagher and Nurit Kahana
