Sophia Parnok
Hagar

So Hagar sits in obloquy
And gushing piteously
The spring pours out a threnody:
Be-er la-chai ro-yi.

Those lands belong to Abraham,
But this expanse – to none:
In front of her, the wilderness
To Shur itself does run.

Despair, despair instinctual!
In her Egyptian eyes,
Disconsolate, elongated,
A nascent teardrop cries.

The frigid torrent’s shimmering,
A dagger’s cutting edge, –
O, terrifying, childless,
O, dread proprietress!..

“Hagar!” – And her countenance
Dark-skinned did drain of blood.
She looks, – her eyebrows lifted at
The angel of the Lord…

Translated by Diana Lewis Burgin