Poetry

translated from the German by Mildred Faintly Fortissimo You played a passionate song,I was afraid to ask what it was calledbecause I knew its name would say everythingthat had flowed…

d translated from the Yiddish by Mildred Faintly In the rich keen colors . . . In the rich keen colorsof a deeply overgrown gardenwhere willow trees hang their pallid…

The First of All Springtimes The serpent hung from her hips like a belt,its head stared up at me, a smug buckle.Her hat had, as an accent,not a bird-of-paradise featherbut…

translated from the Yiddish by Mildred Faintly A Veil Sometimes, it’s like I’m wearing a veil,I’m here and not here,veiled off and veiled in,and my steps synchronize with yours,invisible passers-by.…

Chilperic, the Frankish king, controlled northern Franceand had ambitions for north-west Germany.He was heading home one evening, gloomy and exhausted,his men were heavy laden with golden crosses,enameled silver ciboria and…

translated from the Yiddish by Mildred Faintly The gallery of my forebears, my people: men in velvet and silk,long pale faces,lips that indicate a weary sensuality,delicate hands that rest caressinglyon…

So ghosts really do exist! Death isn’t the end of it all,    it seems some pallid shadow escapes, defeating the pyre –for I just saw Cynthia, buried in a…

Catullus spent a year in Bythynia (Modern Turkey), the center of Cybele’s worship. The details he gives of her cult, particularly the description of its music, are vividly authentic. A…

translated from the Hebrew by Mildred Faintly Spring And here you are again,forgiving, coaxing, soothing—my heart catches fire afresh. Each spring they come to Tiberiasby thousands, to pray at the…

translated from the Hebrew by Mildred Faintly Nightmare In my dream, I was being led awayto be stoned to death: an adulteress.The mute seated judges shook their headsas the sentence…