Poet: Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)
GOT GEYT MIR NOKH UMETUM
God follows me everywhere—
Spins a net of glances around me,
Warms my sightless back like the sun.
God follows me like a forest everywhere.
My lips, filled with wonder, are fully numb, dumb
Like a child who blunders upon an ancient holy place.
God follows me like a shiver everywhere.
The desire in me is for rest; the demand within me is: Rise up,
See how prophetic visions lie neglected in the streets!
I wander with my reveries as with a secret
In a long corridor through the world—
And sometimes I see, high above me, the faceless face of God.
[God follows me in tramways, in cafés.
And it is only with the backs of one’s eyes that one can see
How secrets ripen, how visions come to be.]
KHOYVES
Hours demand payment, hours cry out:
When will you pay the debts for your dreams?
Every hour leaves me a last will and testament.
Days cry out as if they were years.
Words have seduced me, intoxicated me with their range.
I am heroic only in waiting, mighty only in ardor.
I have not rewarded the world for even one breath.
Oh, how dare I borrow time from a new future?
Dreams are debts, songs are oaths.
When will I pay for the dreams, for the debts?
GOT UN MENTSH
Not for Your own sake do You want sacrificial gifts
Only for those disappointed in Your love.
I don’t value Your mercy for honor’s sake;
Only for those abandoned by all.
Rape shames You less
Than people’s tears, than screams of woe.
Blasphemy pains You less
Than people’s despair.
He who blasphemes people, the world—
Shames You, Almighty;
He who loves people—
Brings joy to You, Holy One
GOT GEYT MIR NOKH UMETUM
got geyt mir nokh umetum
shpint a nets fun blikn mir arum,
blendt mayn blindn rukn vi a zun.
got geyt mir nokh vi a vald umetum.
un shtendik shtoynen mayne lipn hartsik shtum,
vi a kind, vos blondzshet in an altn heyliktum.
got geyt in mir nokh vi a shoyder umetum.
es glust zikh mir ru, es mont in mir: kum!
kuk vi zeungen valgern af gasn zikh arum.
ikh gey in rayoynes mayne um vi a sod
in a langn koridor durkh di velt—
un derze a mol hoykh iber mir, dos ponimloze ponim fun got.
KHOYVES
sho’en monen, sho’en shrayen:
—ven vestu di troymen, di khoyves batsoln?
s’lozt yede sho mir iber a tsavoe.
es shrayen di teg glaykh zey voltn zayn yorn.
s’hobn verter mikh farfirt, mit vaytkayt mikh farshikert.
bin nor heldish in vartn, nor mekhtik in hislahaves.
far keyn shum otem hob ikh velt nokh nit baloynt.
o, vi vag ikh afsnay tsukunft, tsayt nokh tsu borgn?
khaloymes zenen khoyves, lider zenen shvues.
ven vel ikh di troymen, di khoyves batsoln?
GOT UN MENTSH
nisht far zikh vilstu korbones,
nor far antoyshte in dayn libe.
kh’hob nisht af koved dayn rakhmones,
nor af farlozene fun ale.
s’farshemt dikh shendung nisht azoy,
vi mentshns trern, veygeshrey;
s’tut nisht lesterung azoy dir vey,
vi a mentshlekhe fartsveyflung.
ver es lestert mentshn, velt—
iz dikh, almekhtiker, mevaze;
ver in mentshn zikh farlibt—
iz dikh, heyliker, mehane.
