And copper and worn my farthing
Is fit only for a beggar’s pouch.
This is not the good deed —
So, I’ll give my soul to him.
And if the soul is not coin,
But a golden star —
I’ll fling a sliver of light
There where the world has need.
А медный и стертый мой грошик
Нищему только в суму.
Не то, что поступок хороший, —
Так — душу отдам ему.
А если душа не монета,
А золотая звезда, —
Швырну я осколок света
Туда же, где в свете нужда.
«How did they kill my grandmother? / I’ll tell you how they killed her. / On morning a tank rolled up to / a building where / one hundred and fifty Jews of our town who, / weightless / from a year’s starvation, / and white / with the knowledge of death, / were gatheredholding th...»
«The gentleman swayed and dozed in his cabin, swaying / to the right, to the left, and back again. / He swayed alone, restless. / He swayed away from life and what he’d lived. / My friend, you are on your way as well, / but where will we be bound tomorrow? / Believe me: these feeble fac...»
«What use are words and what’s a pen, / When on my heart this rock is weighing, / When like a convict’s ball and chain / Another’s burden I’m conveying? / I used to be a city-boy, / And life for me was full of pleasure, / But now in deserts without joy / The graves I dig are all...»
«Today I was watching as, heavy, your tears they were tumbling, / Upon the black chiffon for ages they glistened and lay, / And how I then wanted to tell you, in spite of my mumbling, / About the white roses that blossom on bush’s green sway. I know that you cannot but beautifully weep on yo...»