Di rayze aheym / The journey home
By Irena Klepfisz
Published in Her Birth and Later Years: New and Collected Poems, 1971-2021.
Learn more about Avi’s album project here.
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She looks out the window.
All is present.
The shadows of the past
fall elsewhere.
This is the wilderness
she thinks.
And our tongues have become
dry the wilderness has
dried out our tongues and
we have forgotten speech.
She looks out the window.
All is present.
-
Vider a mol
she tries to rise above circumstances.
Too much is at stake
this morning
Yedn frimorgn
every morning
to see what can be wrenched
from the unconscious
crowded darkness
fun ir zikorn
of her memory.
It is there
di gantse geshikhte
fun folk
the entire history
of the people.
Vider a mol
she reaches out
and tries to hold
clinging
like a drowning
person
to a flimsy plank.
Ober der yam is groys
but the sea is vast
un di velt
and the world
afile greser
even larger
afile greser.
-
Zi flit
vi a foygl
like a bird
zi flit
ibern yam
over the sea
iber di berg
over the mountains.
Tsurik
tsurik back
back
zi flit
and settles
oyf a boym
on a tree
lebn a moyer
near a wall
a moyer
fun a beys oylem
a wall
of a cemetery.
-
IDer moyer the wall
oyf der zayt
on this side
un oyf der zayt
and on this side
Oyf beyde zaytn on both sides.
Oyf der zayt
a keyver
on this side
a grave
oyf der zayt
a vistenish
on this side
a wasteland.
Der Moyer
a beys-oylem
oyf der zayt
un oyf der zayt.tem description
-
In velkhn yor?
in what year
Mit vemen?
with whom?
Di sibes?
the causes?
Di rezultat
the outcomes?
di geshikhte
the history
fun der milkhome
of the war
fun dem sholem
of the peace
fun di lebn geblibene
of the survivors
tzvishn fremde
among strangers
oyf der zayt
on this side.
tsvishn meysim
among ghosts
oyf der zayt
on this side.
-
Zi shetm zikh
She has forgotten
alts fargesn
forgotten it all.
Whom can I speak to?
she wonders.
di mame the mother
der tate the father
di bobe the grandmother
di zeyde the grandfather
di oves the ancestors
alts
alts fargesn
forgotten it all
di gantse mishpokhe
the entire family
dos folk
the people
Mit vemen
ken ikh redn?
Whom can I speak to?
di meysim fashteyen
mir afile nit
even the ghosts
do not understand me.
-
Vi azoy? how
she wonders
should I speak?
Velkhe verter
which words
should I use
in der fremd
among strangers?
Zog
bloyz dem emes
speak
only the truth
kayn lign nit
no lies.
Zi gedenkt
She remembers
di lektsyes
the lessons
di printsipn
the principles
un zi shvaygt
and she remains
silent.
-
Zi shvaygt.
Di verter feln ir
she lacks the words
and all that she can force
is sound
unformed sound:
a
der klang
the sound
o
dos vort
the word
u
di tsung
the tongue
o
dos loshn
the language
e
di trern
the tears.
-
Zi flit
she flies
vi a foygl
like a bird
vi a mes
like a ghost
Zi flit
iber di berg
over the mountains
ibern yam
over the sea.
Tsurik
tsurik back
back
In der fremd
among strangers
iz ir heym
is her home.
Do
here
ot do
right here
muz zi lebn
she must live.
Ire zikhroynes
her memories
will become monuments
ire zikhroynes
will cast shadows.