Poem by M. Lermontov (1814-1841): “Vikhaihu odin ya na dorogu” was translated by Avrom Reyzen (1875-1953), music by E. Sashin. Published in sheet music by Joseph P. Katz in 1915. Numerous Yiddish translations of the Russian poem were printed in the Perl. The song was parodied by D. Apotheker in Di yidishe bine, N. Y., 1897: “Di shlekhte tsaytn” (The Hard Times) about the depression. Also Abraham Goldfaden’s song “Shtil un fintster iz di nakht in droysn” was contrafacted to the melody of Vikhazhu (printed in Sholem Aleichem’s’ Di yidishe folks-biblyotek, 1891).
I walk out alone onto the broad road
the way shines through the thin fog,
the night is quiet, the desert hears God speaking,
and the stars sing a song of praise to God.
In heaven– wonderful and magnificent,
the earth rests enveloped in a blue glow.
So why am I so sad and heavy-hearted?
Am I waiting for something? Have I lost out somehow?
No! I will not wait for anything else from life,
and yesterday does bother me much either–
I’ll seek only rest, become a free person,
leave everything, and finally grow still…
Not with that cold sleep of the grave–
eternal sleep– would I desire,
let every part of my body beat with life,
let my breast heave with breath.
All day and night may I hear
an endless love song,
and may there be an oak tree eternally green, blooming,
bending down and rustling over me.
Kh’gey aroys aleyn in veg in breytn,
S’glantst der veg durkh dinem nepl-shtoyb,
Shtil di nakht, der midber hert got reydn,
Un di shtern zingen got a loyb.
Oyfn himl: vunderlekh un herlekh. . .
S’rut di erd in bloen shayn gehilt.
Vos zhe iz mir azoy bang un shverlekh?
Vart ikh, vos? Tsi hob ikh vos farshpilt?
Neyn! lkh vart fun lebn gornisht vayter,
Un der nekhtn art mikh oykh nisht fil —
Kh’zukh nor ru, vern a bafrayter
Lozn alts, antshlosn vern shtil. . .
Nit mit yenem kaltn shlof fun keyver,
Eybik shlofn volt ikh hobn lust,
Shlogn zol mit lebn yeder eyver,
Otemdik zikh heybn zol di brust.
Tog un nakht ikh hern zol zikh tsien
A gezang fun libe on a shir,
Un a-demb zol eybik grinen, blien,
Beygn zikh un royshn iber mir.
כ׳גײ אַרױס אַלײן אין װעג אין ברײטן,
ס׳גלאַנצט דער װעג דורך דינעם נעפּל־שטױב,
שטיל די נאַכט, דער מידבר הערט גאָט רײדן,
און די שטערן זינגען גאָט אַ לױב.
אױפֿן הימל — װוּנדערלעך און הערלעך. . .
ס׳רוט די ערד אין בלױען שײַן געהילט.
װאָס־זשע איז מיר אַזױ באַנג און שװערלעך?
װאַרט איך, װאָס? צי האָב איך װאָס פֿאַרשפּילט?
נײן! איך װאַרט פֿון לעבן גאָרנישט װײַטער,
און דער נעכטן אַרט מיך אױך נישט פֿיל —
כ׳זוך נאָר רו, װערן אַ באַפֿרײַטער
לאָזן אַלץ, אַנטשלאָסן װערן שטיל. . .
ניט מיט יענעם קאַלטן שלאָף פֿון קבֿר —
אײביק שלאָפֿן װאָלט איך האָבן לוסט,
שלאָגן זאָל מיט לעבן יעדער אבֿר,
אָטעמדיק זיך הײבן זאָל די ברוסט.
טאָג און נאַכט איך הערן זאָל זיך ציִען
אַ געזאַנג פֿון ליבע אָן אַ שיעור;
און אַ דעמב זאָל אײביק גרינען, בליִען,
בײגן זיך און רױשן איבער מיר. . .
Song Title: Aleyn In Veg
The Songs of Generations: New Pearls of Yiddish Song anthology comprises songs that were either never printed before or appeared in rare and inaccessible publications — sometimes in different versions and without proper sources. Most of the songs in this book were submitted by readers of Chana and Yosl’s column “Perl fun der yidisher poezye” (Pearls of Yiddish Poetry) in the Yiddish newspaper Der Forverts (The Forward), initiated in October, 1970. Over 25 years, thousands of songs were collected in correspondence and on cassettes from readers throughout the world, and they represent a veritable national Yiddish song archive. Chana Mlotek, in her introduction, writes, “In the course of years the inquiries, contributions and enthusiasm of these readers have kept our own interest unflagging and have reinforced our dedication to this effort. And in recent years our participants have also been augmented by new readers from the former Soviet Russia, who receive our newspaper there or from newly-arrived immigrants in this country and Israel.”
