Abraham Sutzkever: “Deer at the Red Sea”

Abraham Sutzkever, 1950

DEER AT THE RED SEA

The sunset grew bold: it insisted on staying
in the Red Sea at night, when the innocent pink
young fawns delicately make their way
downhill to the palace of water to drink.

They leave their silken shadows on the shore,
bending to lick the rings of coolness
in the Red Sea, with their long fiddle faces. And there
they are betrothed at last to the silence.

And then–they run away. Rosy flecks
animate the sand. But the sunset deer
stay behind in the water, mournful, and lick
the silence of those that are no longer there.

–Abraham Sutzkever, 1949

Translated from Yiddish by Chana Bloch

Abraham Sutzkever: “שפּילצײג / Toys”

שפּילצײג (original Yiddish text)

TOYS

My daughter, you must care for your toys,
Poor things, they’re even smaller than you.
Every night, when the fire goes to sleep,
Cover them with the stars of the tree.

Let the golden pony graze
The cloudy sweetness of the field.
Lace up the little boy’s boots
When the sea-eagle blows cold.

Tie a straw hat on your doll
And put a bell in her hand.
For not one of them has a mother,
And so they cry out to God.

Love them, your little princesses—
I remember a cursed night
When there were dolls left in all seven streets
Of the city.  And not one child.

—Abraham Sutzkever

Translated from Yiddish by Chana Bloch