Mother

Tali Cohen Shabtai 

How much longer 

are you going to look at me 

until I reach 

the destination you bless on 

with the Shabbat candles

blessing?

A goal that you set for me 

whose present and future use

that will be 

absolutely uninhabitable 

for me when you clap your hands together as a sign of 

thanksgiving?

I told you not to bat 

an eyelid towards girls of my age. 

The difference revealed to you

there 

about me being differentiated from them is 

the burden of my life, 

you’re not mentally prepared for it, and certainly 

not to place me with them in the same 

slot.

A healthy and normal relationship between a mother and her daughter 

is an important factor in the daughter’s normal psychological development 

you should know 

that the common error among women is that having children means being a mother – 

I would rather you understand what I mean on this issue

because that is not my intention.

It is beyond me daughters who satisfy 

their mothers’ will

I understand the source of their desire but not 

the nature of the ability 

to subordinate the good of the individual for the sake of the “common good” contradicts my theory, Mother! Which 

emphasizes the individual’s sovereignty over his life – 

even if we assume this “rule”, I cannot 

change 

I wish you had an alternative daughter and me the same

mother. 

We have yet to find an alternative like this.

Tali Cohen Shabtai was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and is an international poet of high esteem with works translated into many languages. 

She is the author of three bilingual volumes of poetry, “Purple Diluted in a Black’s Thick”(2007), “Protest” (2012) and “Nine Years From You”(2018).  

A fourth volume is forthcoming in 2021.  She has lived many years in Oslo, Norway, and in the U.S.A. 

She is very prominent as a poet with a special lyric, “she doesn’t give herself easily, but subject to her own rules”.