Sheva Zucker: Candles of Song #6

Sheva Zucker, editor of Afn Shvel (On the Threshold), the all-Yiddish magazine published by the League for Yiddish, launched a blog of Yiddish poems about mothers in February, in memory of her own mother, Miriam Pearlman Zucker, who died on January 25 of this year.

Sheva has given Jewish Currents permission to post these translations, along with the Yiddish originals (and in transliteration) at our website. This is our sixth entry. We urge readers to visit her blog as well as the website of the League for Yiddish (for non-Yiddish speakers, the website can be viewed in English).

This is the second poem we are selecting by Rashel Veprinski. The translation is by Sheva. Happy Mother’s Day, all!

If…

If I were to bear children
Every year a child, until I had ten
How wonderful it would be then.
By day I would nurse them and rock them in their cradle,
At night I would knit them undervests of wool,
And wash their little shirts and diapers,
At daybreak, when everyone was still asleep
I would hang them out on the line
And would stand for a while
Looking at the sky above,
To see if it was going to rain today,
And secretly my heart would delight
In the rustle of the wind
Unfurling the little shirts and diapers
Like the flags on a sailboat –
Like the flags on my sailboat –
How wonderful it would be then.

װען. . .

װען איך זאָל קינדערלעך געבױרן,
יעדן יאָר אַ קינד, ביז איך װעל האָבן צען –
װי װוּנדערלעך דאָס װאָלט געװען.
איך װאָלט זײ דורך די טעג, אײַנגעזױגן, אײַנגעװיגט,
אין אָװנט װאָלט איך לײַבעלעך פֿון װאָל פֿאַר זײ געשטריקט,
העמדעלעך און װינדעלעך װאָלט איך געװאַשן,
פֿאַר טאָג, װען אַלע שלאָפֿן,
װאָלט איך זײ צעהאָנגען אױף די שטריק
און װאָלט אַ װײַלינקע געשטאַנען,
געקוקט אין הױכן הימל
צי ס’װעט הײַנט רעגענען,
און ס’װאָלט מײַן האַרץ באַהאַלטן אָנגעקװאָלן
פֿון דעם שירך־שאָרך װאָס דער װינט מאַכט
אויפֿבלאָזנדיק די העמדעלעך און װינדעלעך
װי די פֿאָנען פֿון אַ זעגלשיף, —
די פֿאָנען פֿון מײַן זעגלשיף —
.װי װוּנדערלעך דאָס װאָלט געװען

VEN. . .

Ven ikh zol kinderlekh geboyrn,
Yedn yor a kind, biz ikh vel hobn tsen–
Vi vunderlekh dos volt geven.
Ikh volt zey durkh di teg, ayngezoygn, ayngevigt,
In ovnt volt ikh laybelekh fun vol far zey geshtrikt,
Hemdelekh un vindelekh volt ikh gevashn,
Far tog, ven ale shlofn,
Volt ikh zey tsehongen af di shtrik
Un volt a vaylinke geshtanen,
Gekukt in hoykhn himl
Tsi s’vet haynt regenen,
Un s’volt mayn harts bahaltn ongekvoln
Fun dem shirkh-shorkh vos der vint makht
Ufblozndik di hemdelekh un vindelekh
Vi di fonen fun a zeglshif, –
Di fonen fun mayn zeglshif –
Vi vunderlekh dos volt geven.