Mameloshn: Yiddish Poems About Nature, #1

Spring, by Tsilye Dropkin

Translated by Barnett Zumoff SPRING in the evening, the sky kissed the dark meadow, and when night came, the sky lay upon the meadow, pressed his hot breast against the earth, and nourished her all night with the fluids from his body. In the morning, the sky spun out sunshine upon the body of his black wife. FRILING Der rozer himl hot farnakht Dos shvartse feld gekusht, Un ven es iz gekumen nakht, iz der himl afn feld gelegn, Un tsugeleygt tsu der erd zayn heyse brust un gezetikt zi a gantse nakht mit di zaftn fun zayn layb. In frimorgn hot der himl zunenshayn geshpint af dem kerper fun zayn shvartser vayb. TSILYE DROPKIN (1888-1956) was born in Kiev and immigrated to the U.S. at age 24. Her poetry is characterized by intense feeling and is often about being a mother, a wife, or a lover. Dropkin was also a gifted painter. MAMELOSHN is supported at the Jewish Currents website and in print by the Atran Foundation.