#translationposting

[jouissanceangel]

My translation of "Eygns" by Yankev Glatshteyn

[kotonas]

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—

At nights I'm overflowing with feelings Like I could've done so much I embrace the yesterday that doesn't close up Rotten words don't come out as much anymore I look down at my feet getting smaller And hesitate for a long while As soon as I take barely one step I'm already rather short of breath My first-time smile looks crooked And I tremble for a good while While I keep mumbling to myself Things that won't ever be answered If it had been too easy to slip over, what would I've done I haven't lived even half of my life at that point While my eyes tingled at the vastness of the sky I made my resolutions which seemed more Like words put in my mouth by someone else They're completely useless now Either when I'm the first to approach or knock on doors I never spoke in my true voice and pretended I'm okay with it going lukewarm and getting worn out too As long as I can see it through the end surely Let's figure this out, was it really that I wished To live my days suffocating and cowering? Fading embers left alone long time ago They still manage to burn down someplace This fire rarely catches onto me It's just its shadow getting bigger As everyday carries on just like this, at some point I finally find myself awoken from this filthy dream Right then somebody walks up to me About to whisper something my way "Truly a pitiful human, Haven't fully digested anything yet" If I simply just breathe If I live just like this Is it really going to be okay? It's as if I can never Take a step forward Stuck here in this place forever Seems like I can't even do this much Nevertheless my overflowing feelings I embrace the today that doesn't close up And leave it under tomorrow's care I carry on with my life like this Now it's my very true daybreak for sure

—

Some trivia on the song title: To compare, 1 solar day on planet Mercury lasts 176 Earth days, however 1 full year is equivalent to 88 Earth days. As NASA's website also says: "Mercury's surface temperatures are both extremely hot and cold." Lyrics are most probably written from the POV of someone on Mercury (hence the title of the song), and personally, it feels like these planetary details perfectly illustrate the frustration depicted in the song of feeling stuck in your own mind's loop while not being able to move forward in life, as if you're physically paralyzed. Throughout the song, one's trying to learn to be okay with their single 'Mercury day' that feels like it lasts almost half a year, then at last after all the suffering - a new day dawns (the ending line).

[jouissanceangel]

another anna margolin translation (by me) for yr evening

[jouissanceangel]

khaled juma / my translation into yiddish

[jouissanceangel]

one of my favorite poems, by muriel rukeyser, and my translation into yiddish.

[jouissanceangel]

my translation of "nokturn (adyektiven-etyud)" by arn glants-leyeles

[jouissanceangel]

illustration from a yiddish-esperanto primer, “esperanto far arbeter” (“esperanto for workers”), published in warsaw, 1931

[jouissanceangel]

“crisis,” by yonatan ratosh, israeli jewish poet and philosopher. a revisionist zionist-turned-originator of “canaanism,” an anti-zionist ideology that attempted to create a hebrew identity for all residents of historic palestine, predicated on a rejection of all modern religion (including [and especially] judaism) and dedication to an indigenous “canaanite” nationalism. he was also the first translator of science fiction into hebrew.

translation mine