ווער פֿירט אונדז צו רו צו אייביקער?
Who leads us to eternal rest?
Work 175 of 440
Page 216. 'Di Shtal' Sections LAMED-BET conclusion and LAMED-GIMEL — the devastating ending: The song of the knives concludes: 'Who leads us to eternal rest? Thank — praise, praise — sing forever.' Section LAMED-GIMEL (33): The final stanza of 'Di Shtal.' 'And when the younger brother came running back to the hidden grove, he found the older brothers and their wives and children lying with slit throats.' The pogromists found the refugees. 'And he had no one to tell the wonders that his eyes had seen and what his ears had heard on the hillock.' The surviving witness has no audience — his mystical vision of grace, of the four beasts blessing him, of King David's instruments playing, is rendered meaningless by the slaughter. The poem ends with absolute desolation: the sole survivor, surrounded by the murdered, his vision unsharable, his testimony undeliverable. This is Leivick's most devastating conclusion — the failure of witness itself.
ווער פֿירט אונדז צו רו צו אייביקער?
דאַנקט — לויבט,
לויבט — זינגט
אייביק.
לג
און אַז דער יינגערער ברודער
איז געקומען צולויפֿן צוריק צום פֿאַרבאָרגענעם וועלדל,
האָט ער געטראָפֿן די עלטערע ברידער און זייערע ווײַבער און קינדער
ליגנדיקע מיט איבערגעשניטענע העלדזער: —
און ער האָט נישט געהאַט פֿאַר וועמען צו דערציילן
די וואונדער, וואָס זײַנע אויגן האָבן געזען
און וואָס זײַנע אויערן האָבן געהערט
אויפֿן בערגל.
Ver firt undz tsu ru tsu eybiker?
Dankt — loybt,
loybt — zingt
eybik.
LAMED-GIMEL
Un az der yingerer bruder
iz gekumen tsuloyfn tsurik tsum farborgеnem veldl,
hot er getrofn di eltere brider un zeyere vayber un kinder
ligndike mit ibergeshniteпe heldzer: —
un er hot nisht gehat far vemen tsu dertseyln
di vunder, vos zayne oygn hobn gezen
un vos zayne oyern hobn gehert
oyfn bergl.
Who leads us to eternal rest?
Thank — praise,
praise — sing
forever.
LAMED-GIMEL
And when the younger brother
came running back to the hidden grove,
he found the older brothers and their wives and children
lying with slit throats: —
and he had no one to tell
the wonders that his eyes had seen
and what his ears had heard
on the hillock.
Page 216. 'Di Shtal' Sections LAMED-BET conclusion and LAMED-GIMEL — the devastating ending: The song of the knives concludes: 'Who leads us to eternal rest? Thank — praise, praise — sing forever.' Section LAMED-GIMEL (33): The final stanza of 'Di Shtal.' 'And when the younger brother came running back to the hidden grove, he found the older brothers and their wives and children lying with slit throats.' The pogromists found the refugees. 'And he had no one to tell the wonders that his eyes had seen and what his ears had heard on the hillock.' The surviving witness has no audience — his mystical vision of grace, of the four beasts blessing him, of King David's instruments playing, is rendered meaningless by the slaughter. The poem ends with absolute desolation: the sole survivor, surrounded by the murdered, his vision unsharable, his testimony undeliverable. This is Leivick's most devastating conclusion — the failure of witness itself.
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