הינטערן שלאָס
Behind the Lock
Work 21 of 440
Page 29. 'Hintern shlos' (Behind the Lock) begins Leivick's cycle of prison poems from his years in Tsarist prisons and Siberian exile (1906-1913). 'Di shoybn farmoyert' (The Windows Walled Up) is a harrowing depiction of isolation so complete the prisoner doesn't know if he's been freed or if he's dead — the lamp by the door becomes a yahrzeit candle burning for himself. The yahrzeit image is devastating.
הינטערן שלאָס
די שויבן פֿאַרמויערט
די שויבן פֿאַרמויערט,
געפֿרוירן די ווענט:
אין דראָטן — אַ לעמפּל,
קוים, קוים וואָס עס ברענט.
איך ליג אונטער צודעק
פֿון גראָען געוואָנט,
און קוק אויף אײן פֿינטל
אַנטקעגן דער וואָנט.
האָב אַלץ שוין פֿאַרגעסן,
פֿון זיך בין איך ווײַט:
ווער ווײסט, אפֿשר האָט מען
מיך לאַנג שוין באַפֿרײַט?
און אפֿשר געשטאָרבן
בין איך — בײַ דער טיר
דאָס לעמפּל ברענט יאָרצײַט,
ברענט יאָרצײַט נאָך מיר.
Hintern shlos
Di shoybn farmoyert
Di shoybn farmoyert,
gefroyren di vent:
in drotn — a lempl,
koym, koym vos es brent.
Ikh lig unter tsudek
fun groem gevont,
un kuk oyf eyn fintl
antkegn der vont.
Hob alts shoyn fargesn,
fun zikh bin ikh vayt:
ver veys, efsher hot men
mikh lang shoyn bafrayt?
Un efsher geshtorbn
bin ikh — bay der tir
dos lempl brent yortsayt,
brent yortsayt nokh mir.
Behind the Lock
The Windows Walled Up
The windows walled up,
frozen the walls:
in wires — a little lamp,
barely, barely burning.
I lie under a cover
of gray canvas,
and look at one point
against the wall.
I have forgotten everything already,
from myself I am far:
who knows, perhaps
they freed me long ago?
And perhaps I died —
by the door
the little lamp burns yahrzeit,
burns yahrzeit for me.
Page 29. 'Hintern shlos' (Behind the Lock) begins Leivick's cycle of prison poems from his years in Tsarist prisons and Siberian exile (1906-1913). 'Di shoybn farmoyert' (The Windows Walled Up) is a harrowing depiction of isolation so complete the prisoner doesn't know if he's been freed or if he's dead — the lamp by the door becomes a yahrzeit candle burning for himself. The yahrzeit image is devastating.
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