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,

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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.

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