Karelichy, Belarus

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[Page 15]

The Poem of My Little Town of Korelitz
(Unrhymed Translation)

by Yitzchak Katzenelson

Translated from the Yiddish by Harvey Spitzer

From childhood on, fate has driven me away
from my quiet, modest corner to a foreign world.
And yet I haven't remained a stranger in that foreign world,
and foreigners have not shamed me in my life.
Nevertheless, I've been drawn to the place
where my cradle once stood.
I have longed for, longed for… I have longed for my home.
What use are rich streets and brick houses for me?
I've been drawn to the little houses of wood and mud.
I've been far away at a wedding… but I felt
as guests do at a wedding…
I longed to come back here, to my poor possessions –
The little bird hasn't changed its nest.
I've come back! Already somewhat tired…I've been,
as I said, at a wedding, dancing in a circle. …
I've come back - and I am refreshed and enlivened.
The little town gives back what the city has robbed from us.
You ask what I find here? Well, don't ask. Don't ask.
I don't need any palaces, villas with bowers -
I'll give away a world for hilly Zapole paths!
An emperor's castle for a house on Zalamanke Street.*
Oh! My little town! Oh! My desolate corner! - How you are in ruins!
You lie before me like a treasure, sunken and buried,
but I believe, I believe you will soon come back to life,
because he who gives me life, must have a life…
* A small street in Korelitz
“Heint”, 9 Mar-cheshvan, 5696. Issue: 264 (November 15, 1935)

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