ווי־פּור־וויל*
Whippoorwill*
Work 229 of 440
Page 280. 'Vi-pur-vil' (Whippoorwill) — the bird's distinctive nocturnal call becomes a meditation on wildness and domesticity. The footnote explains: 'ovnt-geshrey fun a foygl mitn zelbn nomen' (evening cry of a bird with the same name). The speaker walks in the darkening forest, feet 'krikhn in vildernish' (crawl in wilderness), lungs breathing cold. The bird's call is ambiguous: 'viglid' (lullaby) or 'kloglid' (lament). The speaker declares 'ikh bin vald-mentsh' (I am forest-person), yet is pulled toward the 'likhtikn fentster' (lit window) where wife and child sleep. The final stanza's revelation: 'vald in undz, shlang in undz' (forest in us, snake in us) — the 'klaper-shlang' (rattlesnake) within the domesticated family. Wildness, danger, and the primal exist within civilization. The poem reflects Leivick's time in the Catskills and American nature poetry.
ווי־פּור־וויל*
דער טאָג איז אַוועק
און דער וואַלדיקער אָוונט קומט אָן.
די ביימער שפּיצן אָן זייערע צווײַגן
אין דער געדיכטער שטילקייט צו אַרײַנשטעכן זיך.
נאָכט. אָנהייב נאַכט ערשט —
און שוין איז דאָס שטעגל צום וואַלד ניט צו זען מיט די אויגן.
די פֿיס מײַנע קריכן אין ווילדערניש,
און מײַנע לונגען אַטעמען קעלט.
פֿון עטלעכע ערטער מיטאַמאָל,
צי אַ וויגליד אַזאַ, צום פֿאַרשלעפֿערן,
צי אַ קלאָגליד אַזאַ, צום דערשרעקן,
דערטראָגט זיך דאָס קול:
ווי—פּור—וויל. —
וואָס מיינט וויפּורוויל?
דאָס פֿרעגט מיך דער וואַלד, ווער איך בין.
— איך בין דײַנער.
איך בין וואַלד־מענטש.
כאָטש די פֿיס מײַנע ציען צוריק
צו דער שטוב מיטן ליכטיקן פֿענצטער.
אין שטוב, אין וואַלד־שטוב,
טוט זיך אויס, לייגט זיך שלאָפֿן מײַן ייִנגעלע,
מײַן ווײַב לעבן אים, העלפֿט אים אויסטאָן זיך.
שוין.
פֿאַרלאָשן דאָס ליכטיקע פֿענצטער.
ווי—פּור—וויל.
אַלע מיר,
מאַן און ווײַב,
ווײַב און קינד —
וואַלד אין אונדז.
שלאַנג אין אונדז.
קלאַפּער־קלאַפּער,
קלאַפּער־שלאַנג
אין אונדז.
*) אָוונט־געשריי פֿון אַ פֿויגל מיטן זעלבן נאָמען
Vi-pur-vil*
Der tog iz avek
un der valdiker ovnt kumt on.
Di beymer shpitsn on zeyere tsvagyn
in der gedikhter shtilkayt tsu araynshtekhn zikh.
Nakht. Onheyb nakht ersht —
un shoyn iz dos shtegl tsum vald nit tsu zen mit di oygn.
Di fis mayne krikhn in vildernish,
un mayne lungen atemen kelt.
Fun etlekhe erter mitamol,
tsi a viglid aza, tsum farshlepern,
tsi a kloglid aza, tsum dershrekn,
dertrogt zikh dos kol:
vi—pur—vil. —
Vos meynt vipurvil?
Dos fregt mikh der vald, ver ikh bin.
— Ikh bin dayner.
Ikh bin vald-mentsh.
Khotsh di fis mayne tsien tsurik
tsu der shtub mitn likhtikn fentster.
In shtub, in vald-shtub,
tut zikh oys, leygt zikh shlofn mayn yingele,
mayn vayb lebn im, helft im oystn zikh.
Shoyn.
Farloshn dos likhtike fentster.
Vi—pur—vil.
Ale mir,
man un vayb,
vayb un kind —
vald in undz.
shlang in undz.
Klaper-klaper,
klaper-shlang
in undz.
*) ovnt-geshrey fun a foygl mitn zelbn nomen
Whippoorwill*
The day is gone
and the forested evening arrives.
The trees sharpen their branches
to pierce into the thick stillness.
Night. Only the beginning of night —
and already the path to the forest cannot be seen with the eyes.
My feet crawl in wilderness,
and my lungs breathe cold.
From several places at once,
whether a lullaby such, to lull to sleep,
whether a lament such, to frighten,
the voice carries:
whip—poor—will. —
What does whippoorwill mean?
The forest asks me who I am.
— I am yours.
I am forest-person.
Though my feet pull back
toward the house with the lit window.
In the house, in the forest-house,
undresses, goes to sleep my little boy,
my wife beside him, helps him undress.
Already.
Extinguished the lit window.
Whip—poor—will.
All of us,
man and wife,
wife and child —
forest in us.
Snake in us.
Rattle-rattle,
rattlesnake
in us.
*) Evening cry of a bird with the same name
Page 280. 'Vi-pur-vil' (Whippoorwill) — the bird's distinctive nocturnal call becomes a meditation on wildness and domesticity. The footnote explains: 'ovnt-geshrey fun a foygl mitn zelbn nomen' (evening cry of a bird with the same name). The speaker walks in the darkening forest, feet 'krikhn in vildernish' (crawl in wilderness), lungs breathing cold. The bird's call is ambiguous: 'viglid' (lullaby) or 'kloglid' (lament). The speaker declares 'ikh bin vald-mentsh' (I am forest-person), yet is pulled toward the 'likhtikn fentster' (lit window) where wife and child sleep. The final stanza's revelation: 'vald in undz, shlang in undz' (forest in us, snake in us) — the 'klaper-shlang' (rattlesnake) within the domesticated family. Wildness, danger, and the primal exist within civilization. The poem reflects Leivick's time in the Catskills and American nature poetry.
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