Alone

Hayyim Nahman Bialik 1873 (Ivnitsa, Volhynian Governorate) – 1934 (Vienna)



Wind blew, light drew them all.
New songs revive their mornings.
Only I, small bird, am forsaken
under the Shekhina’s wing.

Alone. I remain alone.
The Shekhina’s broken wing
trembled over my head. My heart knew hers:
her fear for her only son.

Driven from every ridge –
one desolate corner left –
in the House of Study she hides in shadow,
and I alone share her pain.

Imprisoned beneath her wing
my heart longed for the light.
She buried her face on my shoulder
and a tear fell on my page.

Dumbly she clung and wept.
Her broken wing sheltered me:
“scattered to the four winds of heaven;
they are gone, and I am alone”.

It was an ancient lament
a suppliant cry I heard
in that lost and silent weeping,
and in that scalding tear.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

41 sec read
229

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXAB CBXA XXXX BXXX XXAC XXBX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 724
Words 139
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Hayyim Nahman Bialik

Hayim Nahman Bialik (Hebrew: חיים נחמן ביאליק), also Chaim or Haim, was a Jewish poet who wrote primarily in Hebrew but also in Yiddish. Bialik was one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poetry. He was part of the vanguard of Jewish thinkers who gave voice to the breath of new life in Jewish life. Although he died before Israel became a state, Bialik ultimately came to be recognized as Israel's national poet. more…

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