This Night Is Irredeemable

Osip Mandelstam

This night is irredeemable.
Where you are, it is still bright.
At the gates of Jerusalem,
a black sun is alight.

The yellow sun is hurting,
sleep, baby, sleep.
The Jews in the Temples burning
buried my mother deep.

Without rabbi, without blessing,
over her ashes, there,
the Jews in the Temples burning
chanted the prayer.

Over this mother,
Israels voice was sung.
I woke in a glittering cradle,
lit by a black sun.

Index + Blog :

Poetry Archive Index | Blog : Poem of the Day