Preparing for the Nine Days...

אונטער דער ערד
UNDER THE EARTH

Are there birds twittering under the earth
choking back holy tears in their thin necks,
or is that throbbing beneath the earth
once used words that only seem the sound of unseen birds?

Wherever my feet are wise to walk,
over snow, over hay, over drunken fire.
they feel words,
the souls of words,
it is a pity that my feet cannot hold a pencil...

Like a snake-charmer
I halt my feet in their going:
here and here and here
here they are, here.
Once used silence.
Once used places.
And I dig with my hands - my bony spades,
down to where the black palaces burst,
where words throb
hidden in the sound of violins.

- Avrom Sutzkever
1956

Translated from the original Yiddish
by A. C. Bloomenstiel