DER YIDDISH-VINKL June 30, 2006
Once again, Joan Braman returns to Der Vinkl with another one of her delightful translations of an English classic into Yiddish. This time, her subject is a work by William Blake.
Piping Down the Valleys Wild
Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child
And he laughing said to me:
“Pipe a song about a lamb!”
So I piped with merry cheer.
“Piper pipe that tune again,”
So I piped: he wept to hear.
“Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer.”
So I sang the same again
While he wept with joy to hear.
“Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book, that all may read.”
So he vanished from my sight
And I plucked a hollow reed,
And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.
* * *|
Der Fayfer
Fayfndik durkh vilde toln,
Fayfndik a freylekh shir,
Ze ikh oyf a volkndel
A kind vos lakht un zogt tsu mir
“Fayft a lidl fun a leml!”
Un ikh hob gefayft atsind.
“Fayfer, fayft es nokh amol,”
Un fun hanoye veynt dos kind.
“Loz arop dayn fayf, dayn zisn fayf;
Zing far mir di munter lider.”
Hob ikh di zelbike gezungen,
Un far freyd veynt er nokh vider.
“Fayfer, heyb shoyn on un shrayb
In a bukh far al’ tsu leyenen.”
Dan farshvundn iz dos kind,
Un ikh hob gemakht a pen.
Gemakht es fun a bisl shtroy,
Un di vaser baflegt mit tint,
Un kh’hob geshribn mayne lider
Az zol freyen yeder kind.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
