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[Page 329]

The latest Kaddish

by Zelig Limon

Translated by Oskar Delatycki

I recall my folk, my shtetl
Novogrudok, my own nook
I remember Lubch and Zetl
See your mournful, silent look

You've gone, vanished all
Dear friends of my youth
Like fields of flowers toll
Crushed by enemy boots

Your grave, I look for, can not find
Lets say Kaddish – tell me when
Graves, anniversaries – I search my mind
The candle burns without an end

In Brichinke's green fields
Flowers bloom as before
The wind from Skridlewo brings
Quiet moans of pains of yore

Trees cry, flowers yammer
Woe is us, woebegone
Souls of children clamor,
Where have they all gone?

It's not the morning dew nor rain
It's our blood spilled
Blood of victims, blood of slain
Drenched from our killed

Isgadal, mothers, fathers
Veiskadash, sisters, brothers
Our people – strong and brave
Now holds its land safe

Believe, it's very near,
Our Kaddish, which is greatest
In the name we're holding dear
Our Kaddish, soon, the latest

[Page 330]

No Yahrzeit (Memorial) candle

(a poem)

by Nechama Layzerovski

Translated from Yiddish by O. Delatycki

I could not light for you
A Yahrzeit candle
I could not go to your grave
Where only the wind
Had blown shards
Of your last cry ---

My heart is now your monument
Harder than the granite stone
Your name is written there in burning letters
You will light my path
Till my dying day ---

As I am the last
to remain
The last cinder from the flame
The flame that brought woes
And oppression
To me and my extended kin.

[Page 330]

Where is my home?

(a poem)

by Miriam Ninkovski-Berkovich

Translated by O. Delatycki

Today is a holiday, skies full of joy
Spring has come, bringing jolly tunes
The forest animals have woken from sleep
The air is filled with songs of the birds

The birds are full of joy
They fly back home from the south
Back home to our small town
Where the castle tower awaits.

The sun is smiling and joyous
It warms and is kind
The birds are calling me:
Come to your mother
Fly home with us
It's time to go home

But where is my home?
Who has robbed me of it
Where were you, G-d
When the murderers dragged all to death

In a fierce frost, naked children
Who had not lived yet
Blameless children, small children…
I have no place to go
I can not fly with you

Nobody is waiting for me
All was burnt by the enemy in the frightful days
When my happiness had slipped away as a dream
Lonesome and abandoned am I today

Where is G-d, G-d of revenge
Wake up and hear my cry
Take revenge on the murderers, pacify my heart
Blood for blood will soften my pain.

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