קום צו, בייג זיך צו,
Come near, bend down,
Work 198 of 440
Page 241. 'Lider fun Umkum' poem 'Kum tsu' conclusion and new poem 'Ekhos' (Echoes). 'Kum tsu' concludes: 'Come near, touch me with your arm — as long as you are still God and I am still warm.' The urgency of the mortal addressing the divine. New poem 'Ekhos': The moon looks down 'two-peaked' (tsveypitsik), mountains rise higher than they are — distorted, dreamlike landscape. Wife and son sleep. The speaker sees himself 'distant — removed.' 'Who led my feet to the mountain?' — echo of Abraham's binding of Isaac. A voice calls: 'Here he is, he.' — 'You are needed.' The speaker accepts: 'I came into the world to be taken.' They drag him up 'as if to a scaffold.' His lips bid farewell with song, his hands bless everyone — 'until my right hand falls like a branch, the left like a split-off twig.' Afterward: 'I hear above me the echoes of my own song, like bells scattered, ringing over all the heavens.' The poem ends as it began — moon two-peaked, forest sleeping, wife and son asleep. The sacrifice complete, only echoes remain.
קום צו, בייג זיך צו,
ריר מיך אָן מיט דײַן אָרעם —
כּל זמן ביסטו נאָך גאָט
און איך בין נאָך וואַרעם.
עכאָס
לבֿנה קוקט אַראָפּ צווייַשפּיציק.
די בערג הייבן זיך העכער ווי זיי זײַנען.
דער וואַלד אַ שטייענדיקער שלאָפֿט.
מײַן ווײַב און מײַן זון שלאָפֿן אויך.
אַז איך גיב אַ קוק אויף זיך אַליין,
דערזע איך זיך אַ ווײַטן — אַ דערווײַטערטן.
ווער האָט צום באַרג געפֿירט מײַנע פֿיס? ווער?
אַ קול הער איך: „אָט איז ער, ער."
— „וועמען דאַרפֿט איר? וועמען?
Kum tsu, beyg zikh tsu,
rir mikh on mit dayn orem —
kol zman bistu nokh got
un ikh bin nokh varem.
Ekhos
Levone kukt arop tsveypitsik.
Di berg heybn zikh hekher vi zey zaynen.
Der vald a shteyendiker shloft.
Mayn vayb un mayn zun shlofn oykh.
Az ikh gib a kuk oyf zikh aleyn,
derze ikh zikh a vaytn — a dervaytertn.
Ver hot tsum barg gefirt mayne fis? Ver?
A kol her ikh: „Ot iz er, er.
Come near, bend down,
touch me with your arm —
as long as you are still God
and I am still warm.
Echoes
The moon looks down two-peaked.
The mountains rise higher than they are.
The forest standing sleeps.
My wife and my son sleep too.
When I look at myself,
I see myself distant — removed.
Who led my feet to the mountain? Who?
A voice I hear: 'Here he is, he.'
— 'Whom do you need? Whom?'
— 'You are needed. — You.'
I say: Good!
Whoever needs to take me — take.
I came into the world to be taken.
They take me.
They drag me. High. — High.
As if up to a scaffold.
Together with the mountain they pull me, drag me.
My lips bid farewell
with song.
My raised hands
bless everyone.
Until my right hand falls down, like a branch,
and the left like a split-off twig.
Afterward
I hear above me the echoes of my own song,
like bells scattered, ringing over all the heavens. —
The moon looks down two-peaked,
the forest standing sleeps.
My wife and my son sleep too.
Page 241. 'Lider fun Umkum' poem 'Kum tsu' conclusion and new poem 'Ekhos' (Echoes). 'Kum tsu' concludes: 'Come near, touch me with your arm — as long as you are still God and I am still warm.' The urgency of the mortal addressing the divine. New poem 'Ekhos': The moon looks down 'two-peaked' (tsveypitsik), mountains rise higher than they are — distorted, dreamlike landscape. Wife and son sleep. The speaker sees himself 'distant — removed.' 'Who led my feet to the mountain?' — echo of Abraham's binding of Isaac. A voice calls: 'Here he is, he.' — 'You are needed.' The speaker accepts: 'I came into the world to be taken.' They drag him up 'as if to a scaffold.' His lips bid farewell with song, his hands bless everyone — 'until my right hand falls like a branch, the left like a split-off twig.' Afterward: 'I hear above me the echoes of my own song, like bells scattered, ringing over all the heavens.' The poem ends as it began — moon two-peaked, forest sleeping, wife and son asleep. The sacrifice complete, only echoes remain.
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