Moisei Fishbein

Moisei Fishbein
Translated from the Ukrainian by John Hennessy and Ostap Kin

Apocrypha

The land cannot be happy
where Judas praises Christ.
The land cannot be happy
where Judas preaches Christ.

M. F.

… And sweet from the taste of sorrow,
and cozy in the shadow of the cross,
and, lightly tickled, your lips
search for a sweet word of sorrow for the poor,
and everyone’s forgotten where you’re from, who you are,
for He said: “Let us forget revenge,”
and the cities are overwhelmed with madness,
and a crowd roars with a thousand mouths,
and you Iskariot, lead Him,
and loudly praise the dead Christ.

Exodus

To Aviva Fishbein

All vanity, and all of our problems,
all shall be left behind in a cloud of dust,
punishment to your throat, your eyes,
soon I shall see the Virgin with brown eyes,
the one who bows before the Prophet,
the one who fell at His feet
in that unmentionable year,
I shall see a sizable crowd of people
(the predawn darkness is full of flocks),
they’re coming slowly from over the edge
(and I’m there, over there, I’m on the edge),
where the mist hides the flocks,
where there are no springs or waterfalls,
where there is thirst (there I am, burning),
play, my kinnor, play everywhere
I’ve been, everywhere I’m going,
forever and ever, play for me so that
the dew and swan-necked lilacs,
storms and sunshine on a summer day,
the River… and the Hills… and warm melons…
emerge from beyond this blue gabbeh.