Di Goldene Pave

[seekingferret]

די גאָלדענע פּאַװע (Di Goldene Pave/The Golden Peacock) by Anna Margolin



די גאָלדענע פּאַװע

איז די גאָלדענע פּאַװע געפֿלױגן, געפֿלױגן.
און די נאַכט האָט געעפֿנעט די גאָלדענע אױגן,
ליכטיקער מײַנער, שלאָף אײַן.

די נאַכט האָט געעפֿנעט די גאָלדענע אױגן,
בין איך פֿידל געװאָרן און דו דער בױגן,
אומרויִקער מײַנער, שלאָף אײַן.

בין איך פֿידל געװאָרן און דו דער בױגן,
און דאָז גליק איבער אונדז האָט פֿאַרליבט זיך געבױגן,
צערטלעכער מײַנער, שלאָף אײַן.

און דאָס גליק איבער אונדז האָט פֿאַרליבט זיך געבױגן,
געלאָזט אונדז אַלײן און פֿאַרפֿלױגן, פֿאַרפֿלױגן,
טרױעריקער מײַנער, שלאָף אײַן.



Transliterated into English by Loren Sklamberg

Di Goldene Pave

Iz di goldene pave gefloygn, gefloygn.
Un di nakht hot geefnt di goldene oygn,
Likhtiker mayner, shlof ayn.

Di nakht hot geefnt di goldene oygn,
Bin ikh fidl gevorn un du der boygn,
Umruiker mayner, shlof ayn.

Bin ikh fidl gevorn un du der boygn,
Un doz glik iber undz hot farlibt zikh geboygn,
Tsertlekher mayner, shlof ayn.

Un dos glik iber undz hot farlibt zikh geboygn,
Gelozt undz aleyn un farfloygn, farfloygn,
Troyeriker mayner, shlof ayn.



Translated into English by Michael Wex

The golden peacock has flown, flown off,
And night's opened its eyes of gold.
Bright one of mine, go to sleep.

Night opened its eyes of gold,
I was the fiddle and you were the bow.
Tense one of mine, go to sleep.

I was the fiddle and you were the bow,
And fortune, enamored, bowed down over us.
Soft one of mine, go to sleep.

And fortune, enamored, bowed down over us.
Left us alone and flew off, flew off.
Sad one of mine, go to sleep.


Beautifully set to music on a recent album by Chava Alberstein and the Klezmatics called The Well, it can be listened to here on Youtube.

Comments

[inner_v0ice]

Oh, this is great! I've heard the Chava Alberstein song before on Putomayo's A Jewish Odyssey CD, and I always thought it was very pretty. It's even better now that I have a transliteration and a translation to read!

[seekingferret]

Ha, I realized I have it on the Putomayo disc, too. I don't listen to it much, because it's more a random Jewish music sampler than anything with any sense of narrative, and I'd much prefer to listen to the various types of music on the sampler in context. The Well is a fantastic collection of original settings of Yiddish poems.

[miss_haitch]

This is a truly lovely poem - thank you very much for posting it.