Flowers of Perhaps

Ra’hel (Bluwstein) (1890-1931) published all her poetry under her first name only. She arrived in Palestine in 1909, and lived near the Sea of Galilee in Kibbutz Degania. Unable to work with children because of tuberculosis, she left the kibbutz and settled in Tel Aviv, where she lived out the final years of her life. Ra’hel's life has taken on mythic proportions for Israel’s reading; her collected verse remains one of the country’s greatest bestsellers. "What may be most remarkable about the poetry of Ra'hel, a superb lyric poet, is that it has remained fresh in its simplicity and inspiration for more than seventy years." - Yehuda Amichai. Translated with an introduction by Robert Friend