THE SPECTACLE OF THE EVENING. Lea Goldberg – Pine That Has Taken Root in Two Homelands. Israeli Poet from Kaunas

Street art: Linas Kaziulionis, sound performance: Patris Židelevičius. Bella Shirin and “Kaunas Challenge” read the poetry of Goldberg, Shahar Berkovitz plays the guitar and performs the song “Mehora sheli”.

Perhaps only migrating birds know –
suspended between earth and sky –
the heartache of two homelands.

With you, I was transplanted twice,
with you, pine trees, I grew –
roots in two disparate landscapes.

Lea Goldberg, 1955

Did you know that one of Israel’s most beloved poets, Leah Goldberg, lived almost in this place, on Kęstutis Street? Goldberg (b. 1911), originally from Kaunas, is one of the best-known Jewish poets in the world, but so little is known in her first homeland. Her poetry written in Hebrew has not yet been translated into Lithuanian. In fact, Lithuania left a deep impact on the poet’s life and work and influenced her personality. Goldberg’s poetry is full of directly and poetically thought-out images of Lithuania. Almost all the poet’s most famous poems, which have become popular songs in Israel, actually describe her first homeland – Lithuania … In this rather inhospitable but historically meaningful place today, we will remember the poet’s name and her work. Together, we will try to turn this cold site of the city into an artistic reality full of poetry, music, and light, at least for a short time.