To give and receive love...

To give and receive love is one of the most healing and selfless exchanges that anyone can enjoy.  And sometimes, just sometimes, men, women and children, can express the beauty of love perfectly in words and images.

Below is one of the great Hebrew love poems, LIKE TWO BEASTS OF PREY, written by Jacob Steinberg. This English language translation is from the bi-lingual volume 'The Penguin Book of HebrewVerse', edited and translated by T. Carmi.

If readers have any other suggestions for words or images of love, please drop a line to riskybuzz@gmail.com

LIKE TWO BEASTS OF PREY

like two beasts of prey, lost in the

night and stricken by thirst, who had

scurried about, panting for the vapour

of sweet waters, then dropped beside

the banks of a soundless pool,

and, overhearing something in the

darkness, desperate and wary in the

same breath, they only let their tongues

gently lick the edges of the still waves,

for an instant, then stop –

thus, in the ardour of our parched

nakedness, we paused, despairing and

embraced, on the banks of a slumbering

lake of pleasure, where not one wave

stirred.