God Hid His Face
Selected Poems of RAJZEL ZYCHLINSKY
 
Forgotten Faces

Forgotten faces, 
faces on streets – 
I touch them, 
set them aglow. 
Are these the faces of people 
I have forgotten? 
An old man stands leaning 
against a wall. 
So he stood 
with his shrunken, 
all-knowing lips 
when Socrates was preaching 
in the marketplace in Athens. 
A woman passes me by 
with a red umbrella – 
so did she flame by me 
in a rain 
in the city of Kazan. 
A man looks at me 
with freckles on his face – 
O faces, forgotten, 
faces in a dream.

Translated by Barnett Zumoff

Back to library

Back to
Back to Shtetl