Once again, Joan Braman returns to Der Vinkl with another one of her delightful translations of an English classic into Yiddish. This time, her subject is a work by William Blake.
Piping Down the Valleys Wild
Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child
And he laughing said to me:
“Pipe a song about a lamb!”
So I piped with merry cheer.
“Piper pipe that tune again,”
So I piped: he wept to hear.
“Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer.”
So I sang the same again
While he wept with joy to hear.
“Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book, that all may read.”
So he vanished from my sight
And I plucked a hollow reed,
And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.
* * *
Der Fayfer
Fayfndik durkh vilde toln,
Fayfndik a freylekh shir,
Ze ikh oyf a volkndel
A kind vos lakht un zogt tsu mir
“Fayft a lidl fun a leml!”
Un ikh hob gefayft atsind.
“Fayfer, fayft es nokh amol,”
Un fun hanoye veynt dos kind.
“Loz arop dayn fayf, dayn zisn fayf;
Zing far mir di munter lider.”
Hob ikh di zelbike gezungen,
Un far freyd veynt er nokh vider.
“Fayfer, heyb shoyn on un shrayb
In a bukh far al’ tsu leyenen.”
Dan farshvundn iz dos kind,
Un ikh hob gemakht a pen.
Gemakht es fun a bisl shtroy,
Un di vaser baflegt mit tint,
Un kh’hob geshribn mayne lider
Az zol freyen yeder kind.
