Mark Warshawsky (1840-1907) was a versatile poet whose songs voiced both hope and despair, depending on the situation he was describing. In his poem-song “Dem Milner’s Trern” (“The Miller’s Tears”), he sounds a note of melancholy. It is a dark dirge about the Jews who are being driven from their shtetl in czarist Russia. To the miller, it is an ominous hour, foreshadowing the dispossession of the Jew from this earth.

What follows is the text of Warshawsky’s poem as transliterated in the compilation “Mir Trogn a Gezang” by Eleanor “Chana” Gordon Mlotek. The English version is by Gus Tyler.

Dem Milner’s Trern

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Oy, vifl yorn

Zaynen farlorn,

Zayt ikh bin milner ot o do?

Di reder dreyen zikh

Di yorn geyen zikh

Ikh bin shoyn alt un grayz un gro.

S’iz teg faranen,

Kh’vil mikh dermanen,

Tsi kh’hob gehat a shtikl glik?

Di reder dreyen zikh

Di yorn geyen zikh,

Keyn entfer iz nito tsurik.

Kh’hob gehert zogn,

Me vil mikh farfogn,

Aroys fun dorf un fun der mil;

Di reder dreyen zikh,

Di yorn gehen zikh

Oy, on an ek un on a tsil.

Vu vel ikh voynen?

Ver vet mikh shoynen?

Ikh bin shoyn alt, ikh bin shoyn mid;

Di reder dreyen zikh,

Di yorn geyen zikh,

Un oykh mit zey geyt oys der yid.

The Miller’s Tears

How many a night and morn

Have come and then have gone,

That I have been a miller here?

The wheels they turn about

The years put time to rout

As I’ve grown old and gray, I fear.

I ask, can I remember

A day like some warm ember

When I did have some luck?

The wheels they turn about

The years put time to rout

The answer’s somewhere stuck.

I’ve heard some people sighing,

Our time is done, we’re dying,

Must leave the town and mill.

The wheels they turn about.

The years put time to rout

My hopes the years now kill.

Where, oh where’s my dwelling?

My every hope’s dispelling.

I’m getting old, I can’t renew.

The wheels they turnabout

The years put time to rout

And soon will vanish every Jew.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount