--Aaron Zeitlin, "Two Poems"; Edward Taylor, "Huswifery"
[Notes: Born in 1889, Zeitlin was raised in Belorus and Poland; he settled in New York before the outbreak of World War II. He was the son of the noted Yiddish writer Hillel Zeitlin, and he published poems and essays in Yiddish and in Hebrew. I have included the Yiddish transliteration of the poems {the Yiddish language is written in the Hebrew alphabet} so you can get an idea of the sound of the original text. These poems were written right after World War II; they were translated by Sarah Zweig Betsky (who was the first person in this country to be awarded an advanced degree in English based on Yiddish studies research).
In regards to Zeitlin's second poem, it may (or may not!) be helpful to know that the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Daleth (the word is cognate with the Hebrew for 'door'), which has the shape of an open (tent) doorway Daleth also alludes to the word for 'pauper,' who knocks on doors begging for alms. It therefore signifies holy charity, through which one can achieve atonement. The letter's gematria number is four, so daleth is also connected to the 'Four Worlds' of God's creation, the last - and fourth - of which is action. Nonetheless, one may wish to think of the Kabbalistic tradition concerning the alphabet before creation: the letters then were arranged in opposite sequence, so that the aleph was the last letter. In this reversed sequence, which represents the pure Divine Spirit and was engraved with flaming fire on the Crown of God, the letter Kuf is the fourth letter. Kuf, with a gematria number of 100, alludes to God's unlimited and inconceivable holiness. It is also connected with the idea of seasonal and religious cycles and of sacrifice. Lastly, it is cognate with the Hebrew word for 'monkey,' suggesting that those who do not sincerely attempt to imitate God's holiness will sink to the level of animals - at best becoming foolish parodies of human potential.
Taylor was a Puritan 'frontier minister' and doctor in western Massachussetts; these two poems were written around 1685. Taylor did not intend his poems for publication and, indeed, they were not 'discovered' until 1930. Their elaborate imagery and emotional tone are atypical of Puritan religious poetry, which tends to eschew such rhetorical and personal features. "Huswifery" works with the conceit of cloth production, starting with the spinning wheel (the 'distaff' holds the wool fibers, the 'flyers' spin them), moving to the loom ('quills' are spindles holding thread; the 'fulling mill' is the place where raw cloth is cleaned), and culminating in the finished clothing.}
Aaron Zeitling, "Text" ["Tekst"]
All of us --
stones, people, glass slivers in the sun,
tin cans, cats, and trees --
are illustrations in a text.Someplace, somewhere we are not needed;
there the text alone is read --
the pictures drop away like dead limbs.When death-wind blows through deep grass
and sweeps from the west all pictures
that clouds have raised --
the night comes and reads stars.[Mir ale --
shteyner, mentschn, sherblekh gloz in zun,
konservn-pushkes, kets un beymer --
zenen ilustratsies tsu a tekst.Ergets-vu darf men undz nisht hobn,
dort leyent men dem tekst aleyn--
di bilder faln op vi toyte glider.Ven toyt-vint get a bloz in tifn groz
un roymt arop fun mayrev ale bilder,
vos volkns hobn oyfgeshtelt --
Kkumt nakht un leyent shtern.]
Aaron Zietlin, "Salvation" ["Oysleyz"]
Field cricket hammers: Go on, go on.
Tired trees burn in sun.
Your eye flames. A frail wind
dreams sleepy in your hand.
Soon night will fall - and then?Far meadow, darkly greening.
God, rise up, in our midst be.
You see? There stands Death. There
let us go, all three.
He, the Fourth, wants to bless us.There in the prayer book of shadows
a new alphabet is gleaming.
Doubly black arises the Fourth,
he, Your creation's meaning.
Songs die. Words explode.
[Feldgril hamert: gey'mir, gey'mir.
Mide beymer - zun derbrent.
S'oyg dayns flemlt. Shlefrik dremlt
shvakher vint oyf dayne hent,
S'falt ot bald di nakht - un demolt? . . .Vayte lonke, tunkl grint zi.
Got, gey oyf in undzer mit.
Zest? Dort shteyt der toyt. Ahintsu
lomir tsugeyn zalbedrit.
Er, der ferter vil undz bentshn.Dort in sidur fun di shotns
gliyen naye shtiker traf.
Shvarts-topolish shtart der ferter,
er, der zin fun dayn bashaf.
Lider shtarbn. S'platsn verter.]
Edward Taylor, "Huswifery"
>
Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete,Thy holy word my distaff make for me,Make mine affections Thy swfit flyers neat,And make my soul Thy holy spool to be.My conversation make to be Thy reel,
And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy wheel.
Make me Thy loom then, knit therein this twin;
And make Thy holy spirit, Lord, wind quills;Then weave the web Thyself. The yarn is fine.Thine ordinances make my fulling mills.Then dye the same in heavenly colors choice,
All pinked with varnished flowers of paradise.
Then clothe therewith mine understanding, will,
Affections, judgment, conscience, memory,My words and actions, that their shine may fillMy ways with glory and Thee glorify.Then mine apparel shall display before Ye
That I am clothed in holy robes for glory.