דער מצורע
The Leper
Work 119 of 440
Page 134. 'The Leper' (Der Metsоre): A stark poem referencing biblical laws of separation for the afflicted (Leviticus 13-14). The law commands: separate. The man of scabs is watched, guarded behind walls of stone and wire outside the town. Crooked and mute in wire-net he paces. His head burns in sun-flame, his body in blood, combed by comb-teeth up and down to still the flame of his dripping flesh. Night rises; moonshine wraps his body in white. Rubbed raw in prison-cell, the body of scabs kneels to the light. The leper becomes a figure of the isolated prisoner, the exile — possibly autobiographical given Leivick's Siberian exile experience. The biblical metsоra is transformed into modern prisoner.
דער מצורע
גוף פֿון קרעץ
אויף לײַב און קאָפּ:
דאָס געזעץ
באַפֿעלט: שייד אָפּ.
דאָס געזעץ
איז אָפּגעהיט. —
מאַן פֿון קרעץ
באַוואָכט, באַהיט,
מויער־קיט
פֿון שטיין און דראָט
אויסגעשפּרייט
אַהינטער שטאָט,
קרום און שטום
אין דראָטן־נעץ
שפּאַנט אַרום
דער מאַן פֿון קרעץ.
קאָפּ — אין גלוט
פֿון זונען־פֿלאַם,
גוף — אין בלוט,
אין ציין פֿון קאַם.
ציין פֿון קאַם
אַראָפּ, אַרויף —
שטילט דעם פֿלאַם
פֿון טריפֿן גוף.
נאַכט גייט אויף.
לבֿנה־שײַן
הילט דעם גוף
אין ווײַסן אײַן.
אויפֿגעריבן
אין תּפֿיסה־צעל —
קניט צום ליכט
דער גוף פֿון קרעץ.
Der Metsоre
Guf fun krets
oyf layb un kоp:
dos gezets
bafelt: sheyd оp.
Dos gezets
iz оpgehit. —
Man fun krets
bavоkht, bahit,
moyer-kit
fun shteyn un drоt
oysgeshpreyt
ahinter shtоt,
krum un shtum
in drоtn-nets
shpant arum
der man fun krets.
Kоp — in glut
fun zunen-flam,
guf — in blut,
in tseyn fun kam.
Tseyn fun kam
arоp, arоyf —
shtilt dem flam
fun trifn guf.
Nakht geyt оyf.
Levоne-shayn
hilt dem guf
in vaysn ayn.
Oyfgeribn
in tfise-tsel —
knit tsum likht
der guf fun krets.
The Leper
Body of scabs
on torso and head:
the law
commands: separate.
The law
is observed. —
Man of scabs
watched, guarded,
wall-cement
of stone and wire
spread out
beyond the town,
crooked and mute
in wire-net
paces around
the man of scabs.
Head — in glow
of sun-flame,
body — in blood,
in teeth of comb.
Teeth of comb
down, up —
stills the flame
of dripping body.
Night rises.
Moon-shine
wraps the body
in white.
Rubbed raw
in prison-cell —
kneels to the light
the body of scabs.
Page 134. 'The Leper' (Der Metsоre): A stark poem referencing biblical laws of separation for the afflicted (Leviticus 13-14). The law commands: separate. The man of scabs is watched, guarded behind walls of stone and wire outside the town. Crooked and mute in wire-net he paces. His head burns in sun-flame, his body in blood, combed by comb-teeth up and down to still the flame of his dripping flesh. Night rises; moonshine wraps his body in white. Rubbed raw in prison-cell, the body of scabs kneels to the light. The leper becomes a figure of the isolated prisoner, the exile — possibly autobiographical given Leivick's Siberian exile experience. The biblical metsоra is transformed into modern prisoner.
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