Take this, my song (Levin, set by (Leibu Levin)) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

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Translation © by Hadassah Haskale

Farnem mayn lid

Language: Yiddish (יידיש) after the German (Deutsch)

Available translation(s): ENG

Mayn lid farnem,
hagam s'iz trib,
der regn veynt un veynt.
Ver s'iz in klem,
hert un farshteyt:
dos glik hot zikh opgevendt.

S'iz shoyn avek
di tsayt fun freyd,
ven s'hot dos glik gehelt.
Biz tifstn dek
tseplatst, tsetsveyt,
khotsh s'hot gevakht di velt.

Kert alts tsurik?
Dos veys ikh nit.
Dos veyst mistam der vint.
Blaybt gants dos glik,
vert er nit mid
un brengt undz treyst geshvind.

Nor ze, der vint
bahalt zikh oys,
un iz dokh ersht geven.
Punkt vi a kind,
dakht zikh im oys:
nor er veyst vos geshen.

Farnem mayn lid.
Kon zayn, es brengt
dos lakhn ven tsurik, --
un vayt a yid
vet zen -- es hengt
iber zayn kop dos glik.

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]

Based on

a text in German (Deutsch) by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924 - 1942), "Lied", written 1941

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), "Farnem mayn lid" [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (Hadassah Haskale) , title 1: "Take this, my song", copyright © 2007 by Ruth Levin, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Ruth Levin

This text was added to the website: 2007-09-22
Line count: 30
Word count: 119

Take this, my song

Language: English after the Yiddish (יידיש)

Take this, my song,
Although it grieves,
The rain it weeps and weeps.
Those who know pain
Will understand:
Joy is what it intends.

It's long since fled,
The time of light
When I was filled with joy...
That time has burst,
Crumbled to bits,
While all the world looked on.

The past come back ?
I can't know that.
Perhaps the wind has clues.
If joy exists,
Return it will
And along with it relief.

But see, the wind,
It likes to hide
And dwells in mystery.
Just so, a child
Likes to believe
He's guarding a secret.

My song, take it.
Could be, it brings
The laughter back again. 
And someone somewhere 
Will see behind             
Its cry, longing for joy.

Authorship

Translation from Yiddish (יידיש) to English copyright © 2007 by Ruth Levin; translation 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:

Based on

a text in German (Deutsch) by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924 - 1942), "Lied", written 1941

This text was added to the website: 2007-09-21
Line count: 30
Word count: 122