From Dawn to Dawn

Morris Rosenfeld 1862 (Russian Empire) – 1923 (New York City)



I bend o'er the wheel at my sewing;
I'm spent; and I'm hungry for rest;
No curse on the master bestowing,--
No hell-fires within me are glowing,--
Tho' pain flares its fires in my breast.
  
I mar the new cloth with my weeping,
And struggle to hold back the tears;
A fever comes over me, sweeping
My veins; and all through me goes creeping
A host of black terrors and fears.
  
The wounds of the old years ache newly;
The gloom of the shop hems me in;
But six o'clock signals come duly:
O, freedom seems mine again, truly...
Unhindered I haste from the din.
  
Now home again, ailing and shaking,
With tears that are blinding my eyes,
With bones that are creaking and breaking,
Unjoyful of rest... merely taking
A seat; hoping never to rise.
  
I gaze round me: none for a greeting!
By Life for the moment unpressed,
My poor wife lies sleeping--and beating
A lip-tune in dream false and fleeting,
My child mumbles close to her breast.
  
I look on them, weeping in sorrow,
And think: "When the Reaper has come--
When finds me no longer the morrow--
What aid then?--from whom will they borrow
The crust of dry bread and the home?
  
"What harbors that morrow," I wonder,
"For them when the breadwinner's gone?
When sudden and swift as the thunder
The bread-bond is broken asunder,
And friend in the world there is none."
  
A numbness my brain is o'ertaking...
To sleep for a moment I drop:
Then start!... In the east light is breaking!--
I drag myself, ailing and aching,
Again to the gloom of the shop.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:26 min read
10

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAAB AXAAX CDCCD AEAAE ABAAB FXFFX GXGGX AHAAH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,464
Words 285
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Morris Rosenfeld

Morris Rosenfeld was a Yiddish poet. more…

All Morris Rosenfeld poems | Morris Rosenfeld Books

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