Tzipur Achuzat Kesem - An Enchanted Bird
By Zelda
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ציפור אחוזת קסם / זלדה
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כאשר הגוף הרך
מט לִנְפֹּל
והוא מגלה חרדתו מפני הקץ
לנשמה,
מצמיח עץ הַשִּגְרָה הנמוך
שֶאֲבָק אֲכָלוֹ
עלים ירוקים פִּתְאׁם,
כי מֵרֵיחַ הָאַיִן יַפרִיחַ
הדור נאה
ובצמרתו צפור
אחוזת קסםko
When the tender body
is about to fall
and reveals his trembling from death
to the soul,
the lowly tree of convention
- which is consumed by dust -
sprouts green leaves, suddenly.
For out of the scent of Nought he will blossom*
glorious, beautiful. **
And in his high echelon a bird
grasped by enchantment.***
* ki mei'riach ha'ayin yafriach - perhaps modeled after quite similar words in Iyov, 14:9 - "mei'riach mayim yafriach - It will grow from the scent of water"
** hadur, na'eh - perhaps, modeled after the same words, which appear in Yedid Nefesh, by Rabbi Elazar Azikri, the author of Sefer Chareidim
*** this is my translation, based on the original text and Marciia Falk's translation.
** hadur, na'eh - perhaps, modeled after the same words, which appear in Yedid Nefesh, by Rabbi Elazar Azikri, the author of Sefer Chareidim
*** this is my translation, based on the original text and Marciia Falk's translation.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 12:08 AM
12 Comments:
Very nice. Who is this poet? Where did you find the poem?
Thanks for "getting" this poem, Miriam. Hope you are well.
I bought a book by Zelda over Pesach. It's called The Spectacular Diffeence. She was a frum woman who was a noted Israeli poet. She died in the 1980s. I cite poems of hers and write more about how I discovered her (how she found me) and what she means to me, in the following posts.
I feel a deep connection to her essence.
http://rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com/2009/04/hod-shebechessed-beauty-within-kindness.html
http://rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com/2009/04/gutten-erev-shabbos.html
http://rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com/2009/04/shavua-tov.html
http://rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com/2009/04/its-nine-oclock-on-saturday-and-shabbos.html
http://rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com/2009/04/every-day-is-birchat-hachamah-day.html
aLMOST FORGOT THIS POST:
This is her most famous poem, widely anthologized and used in high schools:
http://rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com/2009/04/gentle-wow-poem.html
Can you post it in the original Hebrew?
Oy. I'd like to. It will entail scanning, which I'm not sure I can pull off. I'll try, b"n.
If it's too difficult, please don't. But what about just typing it in?
My school's amazing librarian Beverly Geller googled it in Hebrew And found that it's on line in several places. Using the Hebrew search of just her name alone you can find many of her poems in the original Hebrew.
Thanks. I'll check it out.
Here it is:
כאשר הגוף הרך
מט לנפול והוא מגלה חרדתו מפני הקץ
לנשמה,
מצמיח עץ השגרה הנמוך
שאבק אכלו
עלים ירוקים פתאום.
כי מריח האין יפריח
הדור נאה,
ובצמרתו ציפור
אחוזת קסם.
I'm confused by some of the translation, but one thing I'm pretty sure of is that אחוזת does not mean "grasping," but "grasped by." A bird grasped (or seized) by enchantment.
Yes, I had added it in already.
The translator agreed with you, she had it as enchanted.
BTW - a friend/colleague informed me, after I forced this poem upon him, that in Hebrew parts of the tree each have a name (in English too). In Hebrew the word for the uppermost part of the tree is tzameret. The translator of the anthology went with crown, that might be better his high echelon, not sure. I don't believe there is a specific word in English for the uppermost part of the tree.
"High echelon" was a translation I entirely disagreed with. "Echelon" is a word connected with rank, as in armies, government or business. You'd never dream of applying it to a tree. I also disagree with the use of "his." A tree is gender-neutral; the correct usage is "it." Same with "he will blossom." It's confusing to a native speaker of English.
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