Rachel Bluwstein: "Only the dead don't die"

My dead

"Only the dead don't die"

Only they are left me,
they are faithful still
whom death's sharpest knife can no longer kill.

At the turn of the highway, at the close of day
they silently surround me, they quietly go my way.

A true pact is ours, a tie time cannot dissever.
Only what I have lost is what I possess forever.

   --Rachel Bluwstein (1890-1931), born in Russia, migrated to Palestine in 1909 and wrote in Hebrew. Translation by American-Israeli poet Robert Friend, published in Found in Translation: Modern Hebrew Poets (2nd revised edition, Toby Press, 2006). Copyright © Jean Shapiro Cantu. For further use of this translation, contact jeancantu@hotmail.com.

מֵתַי

 "רק המתים לא ימותו"

 י.ש.ק.

הֵם בִּלְבַד נוֹתְרוּ לִי, רַק בָּהֶם בִּלְבַד

לֹא יִנְעַץ הַמָּוֶת סַכִּינוֹ הַחַד.

בְּמִפְנֵה הַדֶּרֶךְ, בַּעֲרֹב הַיּוֹם

יַקִּיפוּנִי חֶרֶשׁ, יְלַוּוּנִי דֹם.

בְּרִית אֱמֶת הִיא לָנוּ, קֶשֶׁר לֹא נִפְרָד

רַק אֲשֶׁר אָבַד לִי – קִנְיָנִי לָעַד.