To Say A Prayer by Abraham Sutzkever

To Say A Prayer

^{Translated from the Yiddish of Abraham Sutzkever}

I have the urge to say a prayer. I do not know to whom.
He who once gave me comfort will not hear it, should it come.
To whom, then, would I pray?
I am its choked-up prey.

Maybe I should entreat a star up there: "old distant friend,
Come substitute for my lost speech. I am at my words' end.
"That good star deep in ether
Won't hear my prayer either.

But I have got to say a prayer. Someone very near,
Somebody in my soul is tortured, and demands a prayer.
So I jabber on and on
Senselessly until dawn.

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- Vilna Ghetto, January 1942

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Avraham Sutzkever was born in Smorgon (now Belarus) on July 15, 1913. His family settled in Vilna, where he got involved with the Yung Vilne, a group of aspiring Yiddish writers. His first collection, Lider, was published in 1937. When the Vilna ghetto was established, Sutzkever (like the other members of the leftist group) continued his creative work and became one of the ghetto's most famous poets. Gradually, through his extensive involvement with the partisans, his writings took on a more political tone. His revolutionary spirit was not confined to his writing. He also engaged in numerous acts of armed resistance.
When he heard of the imminent liquidation of the ghetto, Sutzkever and his wife escaped to Moscow, and shortly after the war, the couple left for France and later for Israel, where he died in 2010.
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A. Z. Foreman

A. Z. Foreman is a linguist currently pursuing a doctorate at the Ohio State University. His work (including original poetry and short stories, as well as translations from Arabic, Spanish, French, Persian, Chinese, Latin, Hebrew, Dutch, Occitan, Ukrainian, Russian, Old English, Welsh, Irish, Yiddish, Ugaritic and Esperanto) has been featured in the Threepenny Review, ANMLY, Rattle, the Los Angeles Review and elsewhere including two people's tattoos but not yet the Starfleet Academy Quarterly or Tattooine Monthly. He wants to pet your dog.

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