[00:00:00] Emily Race-Newmark: Welcome to This is How We Care, a podcast where we look at what it means to embody care, not as an individual practice, but a collective one, and to see what kind of world emerges from this place.

[00:00:12] Emily Race-Newmark: Thank you for being here. I am your host, Emily Race.

[00:00:15] Emily Race-Newmark: Welcome to this Grounding Poem, brought to you by Yael Drier Shiloh, one of the founding members for Standing Together. 

[00:00:24] Emily Race-Newmark: To listen to our interview with Yael, check out that separate episode wherever you listen to our podcast. 

[00:00:30] Emily Race-Newmark: You can also sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com/thisishowwecare to check out bonus content that didn't make it into the final edit. 

[00:00:40] Emily Race-Newmark: If you're able, we recommend relaxing your body into a comfortable position and allowing yourself to really receive this poem as a practice of getting connected to a part of yourself that may be more difficult to access when we're constantly in motion, doing things, producing, multitasking.

[00:01:02] Emily Race-Newmark: This practice also sets up context for the conversation that follows in our full interview. 

[00:01:07] Emily Race-Newmark: Without further ado, I'll pass the mic over to Yael, who will share a bit of context for the poem before she reads it. 

[00:01:14] Yael Drier Shilo: To give the background for this poem, it was written in 1974 by a woman named Dorit Tzameret, who lived in a kibbutz.

[00:01:24] Yael Drier Shilo: It was written right after the 1973 war. And her kibbutz have lost 11 people, which is very devastating for such a small community. The song was composed later and it became very known. It's like "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", like the Israeli version of that.

[00:01:41] Yael Drier Shilo: The name of the song is " The Wheat Still Grows Again", and this sentence has become almost a proverb in Israeli society. And actually, a few days ago, Binyamin Netanyahu was quoted this sentence and the granddaughter of Dorit Tzameret has commented and said, "Hello Binyamin, this song was written by my grandmother, and she hated you." [Laughter]

[00:02:02] Yael Drier Shilo: Which is true. She was a peace activist. It was kind of funny and got more liked than the original post. 

[00:02:07] Yael Drier Shilo: I think the historical context of this song is important, so I wanted to say that.

[00:02:10] Yael Drier Shilo: It was translated by Elli Sacks into English and again written by Dorit Tzameret. 

[00:02:14] Yael Drier Shilo: It goes like this:

[00:02:16] Yael Drier Shilo: " And the fields spill out below, as far as Earth meets sky. 

[00:02:21] Yael Drier Shilo: Beneath the olive trees and Mount Gilboa. 

[00:02:23] Yael Drier Shilo: At eve, the valley's splendor hits your eye, 

[00:02:26] Yael Drier Shilo: the likes of which you've never seen before.

[00:02:30] Yael Drier Shilo: It's not the same old house now, it's not the same old valley. 

[00:02:33] Yael Drier Shilo: You're gone and never can return again. 

[00:02:36] Yael Drier Shilo: The path, the boulevard, the skyward eagle tarries... 

[00:02:40] Yael Drier Shilo: And yet, the wheat still grows again. 

[00:02:43] Yael Drier Shilo: And from the bitter earth, the asphodels still bloom. 

[00:02:47] Yael Drier Shilo: A boy upon the grass, next to his puppy lies. 

[00:02:51] Yael Drier Shilo: The night descends upon a well-lit room. 

[00:02:54] Yael Drier Shilo: On those within, and thoughts locked up inside.

[00:02:58] Yael Drier Shilo: It's not the same old house now, it's not the same old valley. 

[00:03:01] Yael Drier Shilo: You're gone and never can return again. 

[00:03:04] Yael Drier Shilo: The path, the boulevard, a skyward eagle tarries... 

[00:03:08] Yael Drier Shilo: And yet, the wheat still grows again. 

[00:03:11] Yael Drier Shilo: And everything that was, perhaps will ever be. 

[00:03:15] Yael Drier Shilo: The rising and the setting of the sun... 

[00:03:17] Yael Drier Shilo: The songs are always sung, but can they speak? 

[00:03:21] Yael Drier Shilo: The vastness of the loss and all the love.

[00:03:25] Yael Drier Shilo: It is the same old house now, yes, it's the same old valley. 

[00:03:29] Yael Drier Shilo: But you—they never can return again. 

[00:03:32] Yael Drier Shilo: And can it be, how can it be, that through Time's endless tally... 

[00:03:36] Yael Drier Shilo: Somehow the wheat still grows again.

[00:03:42] Emily Race-Newmark: Thank you. I'm so curious for you, what does that represent? 

[00:03:45] Yael Drier Shilo: I think it's the story of the days after the war, of rebuilding afterwards. And that sour that you carry with you, but also the fact that life has to go on. 

[00:03:59] Yael Drier Shilo: Which is sometimes very hard to accept when you're grieving, but it's also necessary. 

[00:04:04] Yael Drier Shilo: And it is about rebuilding. And I think it shows war impact on daily life, which I think is not spoken about a lot.

[00:04:13] Yael Drier Shilo: Not as this glorified thing, but we have to live our daily lives and eat supper and grow food and walk around and just live our life. 

[00:04:23] Yael Drier Shilo: And what that's like after something devastating is happening.

[00:04:27] Emily Race-Newmark: Yeah, thank you. 

[00:04:28] Emily Race-Newmark: Thank you for listening. If you want to continue with us on this journey, please check out the interview with Yael. We hope to see you there.