Eyl khanun (Merciful God)
By Kadya Molodowsky
Translated from the Yiddish by Kathryn Hellerstein
From Only King David Remained, 1946
Merciful God,
Choose another people,
Elect another.
We are tired of death and dying,
We have no more prayers.
Choose another people,
Elect another.
We have no more blood
To be a sacrifice.
Our house has become a desert.
The earth is insufficient for our graves,
No more laments for us,
No more dirges
In the old, holy books.
Merciful God,
Sanctify another country,
Another mountain.
We have strewn all the fields and every stone
With ash, with holy ash.
With the aged,
With the youthful,
And with babies, we have paid
For every letter of your Ten Commandments.
Merciful God,
Raise your fiery brow,
And see the peoples of the world --
Give them the prophecies and the Days of Awe.
Your word is babbled in every language --
Teach them the deeds,
The ways of temptation.
Merciful God,
Give us simple garments
Of shepherds with their sheep,
Blacksmiths at their hammers,
Laundry-washers, skin-flayers,
And even the more base.
And do us one more favor:
Merciful God,
Deprive us of the Divine Presence of genius.
--------
From this morning's Poet's Choice column in the Washington Post, on Yiddish poet Kadya Molodowsky (1894-1975).
Three big articles to write, in-laws coming for lunch, early dinner with parents tonight and then Yom Kippur. Yesterday we took the kids to a birthday party at the home of my oldest friend, whose older son is the same age as my younger one; it was very low-key, kickball and scavenger hunts and pizza, and the kids had a great time. She and I rarely manage to see each other, between our kids and work and everything else -- she's a pediatrician with three children and a lot of local family -- so birthday parties tend to be our regular meetings along with their yearly Superbowl party. We all had a really nice time.
Last night I watched the extended Dawson's Creek finale on DVD. I had no idea that a certain character made an appearance, not having read any reviews of the extended cut -- I was going to buy it no matter what, that's how much I love that show *g* -- so I was pleasantly delighted, and there were a couple of extended scenes that I really loved, as well as the two shattering ones involving Jen and Jack and Doug and Jack. I don't understand how I can feel such nostalgia for a show whose flaws I could enumerate weekly while it was on the air.
Have written Theoden fic for
No comments:
Post a Comment