Selected Passages from Earth of Sand

Abstract

Translator's Note: Abba Kovner is not only a poet but a man of heroic action. One of the leading fighters in the Vilna Ghetto as well as a partisan commander, Israel's War of Liberation found him on the Southern Front in the thick of the great battle around Negba. He wrote two novels (part of a trilogy) and two long poems, each reflecting phases of his experiences. “Earth of Sand” (‘Admat Hakhol’) is Kovner's fourth poem. It was published in 1961 by Sifriat Poalim.