יח
YUD-KHES
Work 189 of 440
Page 232. 'Lider fun Umkum' poem YUD-KHES, 'A rayter a vayser' (A White Rider). The poet as white rider on 'an even whiter horse' — come only 'to ride through on the mile-like earth.' His will is fulfilled 'by the one who fatherly wrapped me and my horse in white.' Whether the rider is holy or not, 'my horse is holy, for certain,' and holds its elevation from the dust. 'When I remember the motherly joy that waits at the very last mile — my spurs ring brotherly-up and I hurry.' The refrain returns. This poem offers a mystical counterpoint to the preceding slaughter poems — the white rider as death's messenger or perhaps the soul journeying through, wrapped in white (burial shroud imagery), hurrying toward the maternal (divine?) welcome at the journey's end. The rider is both death's agent and death's victim.
יח
אַ רײַטער אַ ווײַסער
איך — אַ רײַטער אַ ווײַסער
אויף נאָך אַ ווײַסערן פֿערד —
בין געקומען זיך דורכרײַטן נאָר
אויף דער מײַליקער ערד.
אַזוי איז געווען מײַן ווילן —
מײַן ווילן ווערט אייביק דערפֿילט
פֿון דעם, וואָס האָט פֿאָטערלעך מיך
און מײַן פֿערד אין ווײַסן געהילט.
צי איך בין הייליק, צי ניט —
דאָס פֿערד מײַנס איז הייליק, געוויס,
און לאַנג נאָך האַלט אָן די דערהייבונג
פֿונעם שטויב, וואָס באַרירט זײַנע פֿיס.
אַז איך דערמאָן זיך די מוטערשע פֿרייד,
וואָס וואַרט אויף דער לעצט־לעצטער מײַל —
קלינגען ברידערלעך־אויף מײַנע שפּאָרן
און איך אײַל, און איך אײַל — —
איך — אַ רײַטער אַ ווײַסער
אויף נאָך אַ ווײַסערן פֿערד —
בין געקומען זיך דורכרײַטן נאָר
אויף דער מײַליקער ערד.
YUD-KHES
A rayter a vayser
Ikh — a rayter a vayser
oyf nokh a vaysern ferd —
bin gekumen zikh durkhraytn nor
oyf der mayliker erd.
Azoy iz geven mayn viln —
mayn viln vert eybik derfilt
fun dem, vos hot foterlekh mikh
un mayn ferd in vaysn gehilt.
Tsi ikh bin heylik, tsi nit —
dos ferd mayns iz heylik, gevis,
un lang nokh halt on di derheybung
funem shtoyb, vos barirt zayne fis.
Az ikh dermon zikh di mutershe freyd,
vos vart oyf der letst-letster mayl —
klingen briderlekh-oyf mayne shporn
un ikh ayl, un ikh ayl — —
Ikh — a rayter a vayser
oyf nokh a vaysern ferd —
bin gekumen zikh durkhraytn nor
oyf der mayliker erd.
YUD-KHES
A White Rider
I — a white rider
on an even whiter horse —
have come only to ride through
on the mile-like earth.
So was my will —
my will is forever fulfilled
by the one who fatherly has wrapped me
and my horse in white.
Whether I am holy or not —
my horse is holy, for certain,
and long still holds the elevation
from the dust that touches its feet.
When I remember the motherly joy
that waits at the very last mile —
my spurs ring brotherly-up
and I hurry, and I hurry — —
I — a white rider
on an even whiter horse —
have come only to ride through
on the mile-like earth.
Page 232. 'Lider fun Umkum' poem YUD-KHES, 'A rayter a vayser' (A White Rider). The poet as white rider on 'an even whiter horse' — come only 'to ride through on the mile-like earth.' His will is fulfilled 'by the one who fatherly wrapped me and my horse in white.' Whether the rider is holy or not, 'my horse is holy, for certain,' and holds its elevation from the dust. 'When I remember the motherly joy that waits at the very last mile — my spurs ring brotherly-up and I hurry.' The refrain returns. This poem offers a mystical counterpoint to the preceding slaughter poems — the white rider as death's messenger or perhaps the soul journeying through, wrapped in white (burial shroud imagery), hurrying toward the maternal (divine?) welcome at the journey's end. The rider is both death's agent and death's victim.
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