דאָס ליד איז געבליבן
Until the Night Comes Until the night comes / a day of living is luminous, vast and long — / like the immense yearning to which I’ve succumbed! Read more…
A Little Orphan Sings Night senses this in sleep: / the streets cease to lament / their desolation; / a lad sings. Read more…
A Little Orphan Laughs A little orphan in tattered clothes laughs, / takes fright and races through streets and alleyways. Read more…
Good People The world passes through their eyes / as summer passes through fields. / Just as the earth is taut with becoming, / in their word, progress is primed. Read more…
I’m Not Envious I’m not envious of anyone, / save the song of the scythe / eventide in the countryside… Read more…
A Phrase About Man in an Old Holy Book Though Springtime, there was rain and snow, / and above the columns of night / grief clambered like a cat and terrorized all the roads. / I sat alone, leafing through an old holy book. Read more…
About Yisroel Shtern Yisroel Shtern (1894-1942) was born in Ostrołęka (Ostrolenke), educated in yeshivas, and became a follower of the Mussar movement. After being imprisoned during the First World War, he lived in Warsaw, where he ultimately perished in the Ghetto in 1942. He published poems in many literary journals, and became known as one of the most… Read more…
My Guest On the street / the trodden snow lies. / Its countenance is pale / and it cries. Read more…
How Everything Here Has Changed How everything here has changed, the color transformed. / How lovely my city is, all spiffed up and adorned. / The red flags flutter down nearly to the ground / and for me every weekday is cause for celebration. Read more…
On a Wooden Bench Here on the wooden bench / is where we’ll wait for the sun to set. / As we waited a thousand years past. / It will certainly arrive. / It has never fooled us yet. Read more…