Gedicht
Chaim Nachman Bialik
I Didn’t Win Light in a Windfall
I didn’t win light in a windfall,nor by deed of a father’s will.
I hewed my light from granite.
I quarried my heart.
In the mine of my heart a spark hides –
not large, but wholly my own.
Neither hired, nor borrowed, nor stolen –
my very own.
Sorrow wields huge hammer blows,
the rock of endurance cracks
blinding my eye with flashes
I catch in verse.
They fly from my lines to your breast
to vanish in kindled flame.
While I, with heart’s blood and marrow
pay the price of the blaze.
© Translation: 1981, Ruth Nevo
From: Chaim Nachman Bialik: The Selected Poems
Publisher: Dvir, Tel Aviv, 1981
From: Chaim Nachman Bialik: The Selected Poems
Publisher: Dvir, Tel Aviv, 1981
I DIDN'T WIN LIGHT IN A WINDFALL
From: Shirim
Publisher: Dvir, Tel Aviv
Publisher: Dvir, Tel Aviv
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I DIDN'T WIN LIGHT IN A WINDFALL
From: Shirim
I Didn’t Win Light in a Windfall
I didn’t win light in a windfall,nor by deed of a father’s will.
I hewed my light from granite.
I quarried my heart.
In the mine of my heart a spark hides –
not large, but wholly my own.
Neither hired, nor borrowed, nor stolen –
my very own.
Sorrow wields huge hammer blows,
the rock of endurance cracks
blinding my eye with flashes
I catch in verse.
They fly from my lines to your breast
to vanish in kindled flame.
While I, with heart’s blood and marrow
pay the price of the blaze.
© 1981, Ruth Nevo
From: Chaim Nachman Bialik: The Selected Poems
Publisher: 1981, Dvir, Tel Aviv
From: Chaim Nachman Bialik: The Selected Poems
Publisher: 1981, Dvir, Tel Aviv
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