God Hid His Face
Selected Poems of RAJZEL ZYCHLINSKY
 
October

Son of a bitch! 
Moyshe kapoyer!* 
Drop dead! 
An old woman talks to herself 
and curses
amid the falling leaves of October. 
The yellow leaves are falling, falling 
from the trees –
because the old woman is cursing? 
Or because they are tired? 
They fall, fall, yellow 
to her feet.

*One who does everything backwards.
 

Translated by Barnett Zumoff

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