ווי שאַרפֿע אַנקערס
Like sharp anchors
Work 273 of 440
Page 329. 'Di sude' (The Feast) continues: guests sit 'vi sharfe ankers / arum a shif' (like sharp anchors around a ship). Beer foams 'tsu khavershaft' (to comradeship), 'shvartse broyt' (black bread) breathes 'mit layb' (with body) — Russian black bread, central to Soviet communal life. 'Sude. Sude. / Un gornisht mer' (Feast. Feast. And nothing more) — simple ritual. The American guest is seated 'oybonon' (at the head) — place of honor — but feels 'farshemter' (embarrassed). They pound 'mit foyst... in dembenem tish' (with fist on the oaken table). Two words: 'Amerike' falls 'oyf a breg fun tish' (on the edge of the table) — marginal; 'Sovetland' falls 'oyfn mitn fun tish' (on the middle) — central. The spatial metaphor positions Soviet identity as central, American as peripheral.
ווי שאַרפֿע אַנקערס
אַרום אַ שיף.
דאָס ביר האָט געשוימט
איבער גלעזער געקלונגען,
און געזאָדן אויף ליפּן
צו חבֿרשאַפֿט,
און דאָס שוואַרצע ברויט
האָט געאָטעמט מיט לײַב,
אַנטקעגן געקומען
מיט זאַלציקער פֿרייד.
סעודה. סעודה.
און גאָרנישט מער.
געבראָכן דאָס ברויט,
און גאָרנישט מער.
איר האָט מיך געזעצט
אויבנאָן —
בין איך צווישן אײַך
דער פֿאַרשעמטער געווען.
און איר האָט געוואוסט,
אַז איך בין פֿאַרשעמט,
און אָפֿענער נאָך
און פּראָסטער נאָך
געשטרעקט צו מיר
אַ גלאָז נאָך אַ גלאָז.
און מיט פֿויסט געזעצט
אין דעמבענעם טיש.
האָט איינער געזאָגט:
— אַ־מע־רי־קע!
און דאָס וואָרט איז געפֿאַלן
אויף אַ ברעג פֿון טיש.
האָט אַ צווייטער געזאָגט:
— סאָ־וועט־נ־לאַנד.
און דאָס וואָרט איז געפֿאַלן
אויפֿן מיטן פֿון טיש.
Vi sharfe ankers
arum a shif.
Dos bir hot geshoymdt
iber glezer geklungen,
un gezodn oyf lipn
tsu khavershaft,
un dos shvartse broyt
hot ge'otemet mit layb,
antkegn gekumen
mit zaltskiker freyd.
Sude. Sude.
Un gornisht mer.
Gebrokhn dos broyt,
un gornisht mer.
Ir hot mikh gezetst
oybonon —
bin ikh tsvishn aykh
der farshemter geven.
Un ir hot gevust,
az ikh bin farshe'mt,
un ofener nokh
un proster nokh
geshtrekht tsu mir
a gloz nokh a gloz.
Un mit foyst gezetst
in dembenem tish.
Hot eyner gezogt:
— A-me-ri-ke!
Un dos vort iz gefaln
oyf a breg fun tish.
Hot a tsveyter gezogt:
— So-vet-n-land.
Un dos vort iz gefaln
oyfn mitn fun tish.
Like sharp anchors
around a ship.
The beer foamed
ringing over glasses,
and seethed on lips
for comradeship,
and the black bread
breathed with body,
came toward us
with salty joy.
Feast. Feast.
And nothing more.
Broken the bread,
and nothing more.
You seated me
at the head —
I was among you
the embarrassed one.
And you knew,
that I am embarrassed,
and more openly
and more simply
stretched to me
glass after glass.
And with fist pounded
on the oaken table.
One said:
— A-me-ri-ca!
And the word fell
on the edge of the table.
Another said:
— So-vi-et-land.
And the word fell
on the middle of the table.
Page 329. 'Di sude' (The Feast) continues: guests sit 'vi sharfe ankers / arum a shif' (like sharp anchors around a ship). Beer foams 'tsu khavershaft' (to comradeship), 'shvartse broyt' (black bread) breathes 'mit layb' (with body) — Russian black bread, central to Soviet communal life. 'Sude. Sude. / Un gornisht mer' (Feast. Feast. And nothing more) — simple ritual. The American guest is seated 'oybonon' (at the head) — place of honor — but feels 'farshemter' (embarrassed). They pound 'mit foyst... in dembenem tish' (with fist on the oaken table). Two words: 'Amerike' falls 'oyf a breg fun tish' (on the edge of the table) — marginal; 'Sovetland' falls 'oyfn mitn fun tish' (on the middle) — central. The spatial metaphor positions Soviet identity as central, American as peripheral.
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