זינג איבער אַלעמענס קעפּ:
Sing over everyone's heads:
Work 240 of 440
Page 292. 'Sobvey-baginen' conclusion and 'Dos heylike lid vegn heylikn kremer' (The Holy Song About the Holy Shopkeeper) begins. The subway poem asks 'ver?' (who?) dragged us from warm beds into the 'fintsternish fun hayln' (darkness of tunnels). The answer: 'libshaft, sine, noyt' (love, hatred, need) bound together — 'libshaft in sine, libshaft un sine in noyt' (love in hatred, love and hatred in need). Then the satirical 'holy' poem — bitter elegy for the Jewish shopkeeper. Everything is 'heylik' (holy) but decaying: the shop abandoned, shopkeeper dead, sponge molding, bucket rusting, herring weeping in brine, kerosene dripping. The scale's tongue makes the sound 'doy, doy, vey' (a Yiddish lament sound, playing on the weighing motion) — slumbering day and night. The repeated 'heylike' mocks nostalgic sanctification of old-world commerce while mourning its passing.
זינג איבער אַלעמענס קעפּ:
ווער?
ווער —
האָט אַרויסגעשלעפּט פֿון די וואַרעמע בעטן,
האָט צונויפֿגעבראַכט אַהער
אין צעיאָגטער פֿינצטערניש פֿון הײַלן —
אונדז,
אַלעמען?
ווער?
די ליבשאַפֿט?
די שׂנאה?
די נויט?
די ליבשאַפֿט, די שׂנאה, די נויט
אין אַ בונד געשלאָסן:
ליבשאַפֿט — אין שׂנאה,
ליבשאַפֿט און שׂנאה — אין נויט.
בונד געשלאָסענער,
בונד געבונדענער
אין צעיאָגטע פֿינצטערנישן פֿון הײַלן פֿון פֿאַרטאָגיקע.
דאָס הייליקע ליד וועגן הייליקן קרעמער
פֿאַרלאָזן די הייליקע קראָם,
געשטאָרבן דער הייליקער קרעמער;
עס שימלט דער הייליקער שוואָם,
עס זשאַווערט דער הייליקער עמער.
עס וויינען אין הייליקן זאַפֿט
די הייליקע הערינג, טאַראַנען;
אין ניווס דער הייליקער נאַפֿט
רינט אויס פֿון די הייליקע קראַנען.
און דאָס הייליקע צינגל
פֿון דער הייליקער וואָג —
דוי, דוי, וויי,
שלומערט בײַנאַכט
און שלומערט בײַטאָג —
דוי, דוי, וויי.
Zing iber alemens kep:
ver?
ver —
hot aroysgeshlept fun di vareme betn,
hot tsunoyfgebrakht aher
in tseyogter fintsternish fun hayln —
undz,
alemen?
ver?
Di libshaft?
Di sine?
Di noyt?
Di libshaft, di sine, di noyt
in a bund geshlosn:
libshaft — in sine,
libshaft un sine — in noyt.
Bund geshlosener,
bund gebundener
in tseyogte fintsternishn fun hayln fun fartogike.
Dos heylike lid vegn heylikn kremer
Farlozn di heylike krom,
geshtorbn der heyliker kremer;
es shimlt der heyliker shvom,
es zhaveret der heyliker emer.
Es veynen in heylikn zaft
di heylike hering, taranen;
in nivs der heyliker naft
rint oys fun di heylike kranen.
Un dos heylike tsingl
fun der heyliker vog —
doy, doy, vey,
shlumert baynakht
un shlumert baytog —
doy, doy, vey.
Sing over everyone's heads:
who?
who —
dragged from the warm beds,
brought together here
in the scattered darkness of tunnels —
us,
everyone?
who?
Love?
Hatred?
Need?
Love, hatred, need
in a bond closed:
love — in hatred,
love and hatred — in need.
Bond closed,
bond bound
in scattered darknesses of tunnels of pre-dawn.
The Holy Song About the Holy Shopkeeper
Abandoned the holy shop,
dead the holy shopkeeper;
the holy sponge is molding,
the holy bucket is rusting.
They weep in holy juice
the holy herring, dried fish;
in ooze the holy kerosene
drips out from the holy faucets.
And the holy tongue
of the holy scale —
doy, doy, woe,
slumbers by night
and slumbers by day —
doy, doy, woe.
Page 292. 'Sobvey-baginen' conclusion and 'Dos heylike lid vegn heylikn kremer' (The Holy Song About the Holy Shopkeeper) begins. The subway poem asks 'ver?' (who?) dragged us from warm beds into the 'fintsternish fun hayln' (darkness of tunnels). The answer: 'libshaft, sine, noyt' (love, hatred, need) bound together — 'libshaft in sine, libshaft un sine in noyt' (love in hatred, love and hatred in need). Then the satirical 'holy' poem — bitter elegy for the Jewish shopkeeper. Everything is 'heylik' (holy) but decaying: the shop abandoned, shopkeeper dead, sponge molding, bucket rusting, herring weeping in brine, kerosene dripping. The scale's tongue makes the sound 'doy, doy, vey' (a Yiddish lament sound, playing on the weighing motion) — slumbering day and night. The repeated 'heylike' mocks nostalgic sanctification of old-world commerce while mourning its passing.
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