שטעלט אַוועק זיך מיר צוקאָפּנס,
He stands at my head,
Work 77 of 440
Page 87. Continuation of 'A Vision' — the god of sorrow stands at his head with a lit candle, blesses him to vanish into pastness, into degradation. He touches the speaker's brows, closing them. Carries him sleeping, covered, to the fiery wagon. A death-vision. 'All Lights Have Gone Out': the speaker sees an aged face in the window — is it his own? Blond hair gone gray, cold eyes, pressed lips. Days and nights waiting. He invites the aged one in as lights go out. Finally the face becomes that of a dead one. All quarreling lights extinguished. A haunting meditation on aging and death.
שטעלט אַוועק זיך מיר צוקאָפּנס,
האַלט אין האַנט אַ ליכט געצונדן:
בענטשט מיך: זײַ פֿון הײַנט און אייביק
אין פֿאַרגאַנגלעכקייט פֿאַרשוואונדן.
אין געפֿאַלנקייט פֿאַרלוירן,
אין דערנידערונג פֿאַרלאָזן:
אָט איך ריר אָן דײַנע ברעמען:
און זיי ווערן צוגעשלאָסן.
ווי איך ליג אַ שלאָפֿנדיקער,
נעמט ער אויף די הענט מיך טראָגן
איבערן קאָפּ אַ צוגעדעקטן
צו זײַן פֿײַערדיקן וואָגן.
אויסגעגאַנגען אַלע ליכט
דורך די שויבן קוקט זיך דורך
אַ פֿאַרעלטערטנס געזיכט,
ווי אַ שאָטן טאַנצט עס אום
מיט די צאַנקענדיקע ליכט.
בלאָנדע האָר און זײַנען גרוי
אין די אויגן קאַלטע שײַן,
און די ליפּן אײַנגעפּרעסט —
זאָל עס דען אַלײן איך זײַן?
טעג און נעכט איך וואַרט אויף דיר,
דאַרף דאָך ווען אַן ענדע זײַן!
זע די ליכט וועלן גיין אויס —
קום, פֿאַרעלטערטער, אַרײַן.
דורך די שויבן קוקט זיך דורך
אַ געשטאָרבענעמס געזיכט.
אויסגעגאַנגען אַלע ליכט,
אַלע צאַנקענדיקע ליכט.
Shtelt avek zikh mir tsukopns,
halt in hant a likht getsundn:
bentsht mikh: zay fun haynt un eybik
in farganglekhkeyt farshvundn.
In gefalenkeyt farloyrn,
in derniderung farlozen:
ot ikh rir on dayne bremen:
un zey vern tsugeshlosn.
Vi ikh lig a shlofndiker,
nemt er oyf di hent mikh trogn
ibern kop a tsugedektn
tsu zayn fayerdikn vogn.
Oysgegangen ale likht
Durkh di shoybn kukt zikh durkh
a fareltertns gezikht,
vi a shotn tantst es um
mit di tsankendike likht.
Blonde hor un zaynen groy
in di oygn kalte shayn,
un di lipn ayngeprest —
zol es den aleyn ikh zayn?
Teg un nekht ikh vart oyf dir,
darf dokh ven an ende zayn!
Ze di likht veln geyn oys —
kum, farelterter, arayn.
Durkh di shoybn kukt zikh durkh
a geshtorbenenms gezikht.
Oysgegangen ale likht,
ale tsankendike likht.
He stands at my head,
holds in hand a candle lit:
blesses me: be from today and forever
vanished into pastness.
In fallenness lost,
in degradation forsaken:
here I touch your brows:
and they become closed.
As I lie sleeping,
he takes me in his arms to carry
with head covered over
to his fiery wagon.
All Lights Have Gone Out
Through the windowpanes looks through
an aged one's face,
like a shadow it dances about
with the quarreling lights.
Blond hair and now gray
in the eyes a cold shine,
and the lips pressed in —
should it then be myself alone?
Days and nights I wait for you,
must there sometime be an end!
See the lights will go out —
come in, aged one.
Through the windowpanes looks through
a dead one's face.
All lights have gone out,
all the quarreling lights.
Page 87. Continuation of 'A Vision' — the god of sorrow stands at his head with a lit candle, blesses him to vanish into pastness, into degradation. He touches the speaker's brows, closing them. Carries him sleeping, covered, to the fiery wagon. A death-vision. 'All Lights Have Gone Out': the speaker sees an aged face in the window — is it his own? Blond hair gone gray, cold eyes, pressed lips. Days and nights waiting. He invites the aged one in as lights go out. Finally the face becomes that of a dead one. All quarreling lights extinguished. A haunting meditation on aging and death.
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