DER YIDDISH-VINKL June 17, 2005
Once again Joan Braman graces Der Vinkl with her elegant and eloquent translation of great English classics into Yiddish. This time the poem is William Blake’s…
The Tiger
Tiger, tiger burning bright
In the forests of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears
Did He smile his work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Yiddish Version
Tiger, tiger, ful mit prakht
Shaynst in tifn vald bay nakht;
Nit fun mentshn-hant geshmit
Dayne shoyderlekhe glider.
Vu in vayter velt, du goylem
Flamen dayne oygn di koyln?
Ver vet in hoykhn himl shtrebn?
Ver vet mit hent di fayer nemen?
Mit velkhn hamer, velkher kraft
Oysgekovlt hot men dayn harts?
Un ven dos harts m’hot gefilt mit blut
Mit velkher makht, mit velkhn mut?
Mit velkhn hamer, mit velkhn koyekh?
In velkhn oyvn gefuremt dem moyekh?
Ver hot in fayer dem shtol geknotn?
Oyf vemens bafel, vemens barotn?
Ven fun di shtern veln faln shpizn,
Un ven fun himl veln trern gisn,
Vet er kveln fun dayn geshtalt?
Hot er oykh dem lom gemakht?
Tiger, tiger, ful mit prakht
Shaynst in tifn vald bay nakht.
Nit fun mentshn-hant geshmit,
Dayne shoyderlekhe glider.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
