My sacred cameo | As I set forth upon my way

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Translation © by Hadassah Haskale

Mayn heylike kamee

Language: Yiddish (יידיש)

Our translations: ENG

Kh'hob mitgenumen mir in veg --
in vaytn veg, in shvern veg --
un durkhegshmuglt in der fremd
a heylike kamee --
dos tsigele, dos vaysinke,
fun vigele, fun maysele,
der mames yidish lidele
in freydn un in veyen.

Un yorn lang in shtume leyd
hob ikh gefilt zayn dekh, zayn treyst.
mayn harts hot moyredik geklemt,
me zol, kholile, es nisht fartsikn --
dos tsigele, dos vaysinke,
fun vigele, fun maysele,
der mames yidish lidele,
vos vart alts oyf zayn tikn.

Dervayl z'fargangen yor nokh yor,
kh'bin in der heym shoyn oyf der vor
un loz do hern oyf a kol
mayn oytser, mayn kamee --
dos tsigele, dos vaysinke,
fun vigele, fun maysele,
der mames yidish lidele,
vos freyt un vet derfreyen.

Text Authorship:

by Leibu Levin (1914 - 1983), copyright © by Ruth Levin, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Leibu Levin (1914 - 1983), "Mayn heylike kamee" [
text verified 1 time
]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Hadassah Haskale) , title 1: "My sacred cameo", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ruth Levin

This text was added to the website: 2007-09-22
Line count: 24
Word count: 119

My sacred cameo

Language: English after the Yiddish (יידיש)

As I set forth upon my way --
A long way, a hard way --
I smuggled out through foreign lands 
A sacred cameo --
The little kid, the whitest one,
From the cradle, from the folk tale,
The mama's Yiddish melody
In pain and in rejoicing.

And through the years of wildest grief
I've felt its comfort and its breath.
My heart has twinged with pangs of dread --
Lest, God forbid, it should be devoured --
The little kid, the whitest one,
From the cradle, from the folk tale,
The mama's Yiddish melody,
That still awaits its tikun.¹

Meanwhile, there passed year after year,
In truth, I'm already at home, 
And here I let be heard out loud   
My treasure, my cameo --
The little kid, the whitest one,
From the cradle, from the folk tale,
The mama's Yiddish melody
That delights and will delight.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ tikun (Hebrew, Yiddish): repair of the world

Text Authorship:

Translation from Yiddish (יידיש) to English copyright © 2007 by Hadassah Haskale, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Hadassah Haskale. Contact: contact: Ruth Levin, ruta (DOT) levin (AT) gmail (DOT) com
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

This text was added to the website: 2007-09-21
Line count: 24
Word count: 142