LINK TO MLOTEK BOOKS

https://yiddishsongs.org/

https://yiddishsongs.org/tag/love-songs/

Unter Dayne Vayse Shterne Transliterated

Composer: Abraham Sutzkever Lyricist: Abraham Budno Yiddish Lyrics 

 Unter dayne vayse shtern, Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant. 

Mayne verter zaynen trern, viln ruen in dayn hant 

Ze, es tunklt zeyer finkl In mayn kelerdikn blik 

Un ikh hob gornit kayn vinkl Zey tsu shenken dir tsurik 

 Un ikh vil dokh, got getrayer Dir fartroyen mayn farmeg 

Vayl es mogt in mir a fayer Un in fayer mayne teg 

Nor in kelern un lekher Veynt di merderishe ru 

Loyf ikh hekher, iber dekher Un ikh zukh, vu bistu, vu? 

 Nemen yogn mikh meshune
Trep un hoyfn mit gevoy 

Heng ikh a geplatste strune Un ikh zing tsu dir azoy 

Unter dayne vayse shtern Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant 

Mayne verter zaynen trern Viln ruen in dayn hant ###

Poet: Avraham Sutskever (b. 1913)

Under Your white stars, Stretch to me Your white hand.
My words are tears,  That want to rest in Your hand.

See, their spark dims, Through my penetrating cellar eyes.
And I don’t have a corner from which to return them to You.

And yet I still want, dear God, To confide in You all that I possess,
For in me rages a fire And in the fire—my days.

But in cellars and in holes  The murderous quiet weeps.
I run higher, over rooftops And I search: Where are You, where?

Something strange pursues me Across stairs and yards with lament.
I hang—a ruptured string, And I sing to You:

Under Your white stars Stretch to me Your white hand.
My words are tears, That want to rest in Your hand. 

###

Unter Dayne Vayse Shterne Translated

Under your white starry heaven


Offer me your pale white hand.


All my words are flowing teardrops.


I would place them in your hand.


Gone the luster from their brightness,


Seen through morbid cellar view,

 –
And I no longer have my own space


To reflect them back to you. 

 My devoted God I offer


Everything that I possess.


As the fire that I suffer


Fills each fiery day I pass.


Only in the holes and cellars


With deadly rest my days I share.


I run higher – over spire


Searching where are you, oh where? 

 I am chased by phantom beings


Stairs and courtyards goad me too.


There I hang a broken bowstring –


And I sing once more to you:


Under your white starry heaven


Offer me your pale white hand.


All my words are flowing teardrops,


I would place them in your hand. 

-----------------

 

One of the most beautiful songs to have come out of the Vilna ghetto, 'Unter dayne vayse shtern' (Under your white stars) was written by the poet Avraham Sutzkever and set to music by Avrom Brudno.

Unter Dayne Vayse Shterne

Composer: Abraham Sutzkever

Lyricist: Abraham Budno

Yiddish Lyrics

Unter dayne vayse shtern
Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant
Mayne verter zaynen trern
viln ruen in dayn hant
Ze, es tunklt zeyer finkl
In mayn kelerdikn blik
Un ikh hob gornit kayn vinkl
Zey tsu shenken dir tsurik

Un ikh vil dokh, got getrayer
Dir fartroyen mayn farmg
Vayl es mogt in mir a fayer
Un in fayer mayne teg
Nor in kelern un lekher
Veynt di merderishe ru
Loyf ikh hekher, iber dekher
Un ikh zukh, vu bistu, vu?

Nemen yogn mikh meshune
Trep un hoyfn mit gevoy
Heng ikh a geplatste strune
Un ikh zing tsu dir azoy
Unter dayne vayse shtern
Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant
Mayne verter zaynen trern
Viln ruen in dayn hant

English (literal translation)

Under Your white stars

Stretch to me Your white hand.

My words are tears,

Wanting to rest in Your hand.

See, they twinkle very darkly

In my cellar-beaten view;

And I have no place

How to send them back to You.

And I will, dear God,

Confide in you these of mine

While in me a fire grows

And on fire are my days.

But in cellars and holes

Cries the murderous quiet

I fly higher, over rooftops

And I search: Where are You? Where?

Something strange hunts me

Stairs and courtyards are on chase

I hang as a broken bow-string

And I sing to You this way:

Under Your white stars

Stretch to me Your white hand.

My words are tears,

Wanting to rest in Your hand.

Note: (from Mlotek and other sources) This song was written in the Vilna ghetto, words by Abraham Sutskever (1913-2010); music by Abraham Brudno (?-1944). It was first presented in the ghetto theater in the play " Di Yogenish in Fas" (the hunt in the barrel, a pun on Diogenes in a barrel.) It was first sung by Zlate Katcherginsky. After the liquidation of the ghetto, Suskever joined the partisan fighters. He survived the war and lived in Israel where he edited the literary quarterly "Di Goldene Keyt". Sutzkever died January, 20, 2010 The composer, Avrom Brudno, following the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto, was deported to a German concentration camp in Estonia, where he died. YW  https://zemerl.org/song/834

English (singable translation by Roslyn Bresnick-Perry)

Under Your Starry Heaven

Under your white starry heaven

Offer me your pale white hand.

All my words are flowing teardrops,

I would place them in your hand.

Gone the luster from their brightness,

Seen through morbid cellar view -

And I no longer have my own space

To reflect them back to you.

My devoted God I offer

Everything that I possess,

As the fire that I suffer

Fills each fiery day I pass.

Only in the holes and cellars

With deadly rest my days I share.

I run higher - over spire

Searching where are you, oh where?

I am chased by phantom beings

Stairs and courtyards goad me too.

There I hang a broken bowstring -

And I sing once more to you:

Under your white starry heaven

Offer me your pale white hand.

All my words are flowing teardrops,

I would place them in your hand.

             ###

Background on Unter Dayne Vayse Shterne

 Excerpt in Yiddish of how Avrom Sutzkever wrote Unter Dayne Vayse Shterne:

https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/excerpts/woh-ex-0003410/how-sutzkever-wrote-unter-dayne-vayse-shtern-explained-his-daughter

Notes from: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130271 

"This song was produced in the small art stage "Di yogenesh in Fas" by Zlate Karchiginski. The composer (Brudna), a well-known Vilna graphic artist, was killed in a Lithuanian camp, Kloge. Avraham Sutskever was born in 1913 in Storgon. He moved to Vilna in 1920. The gruesome days lit this author's poetic spirit. In the very worst moments, Sutskever didn't lay down his pen. His appearance before the ghetto-audiences was a real happening. His songs, which he read beautifully, made a tremendous impression on his listeners."

----------------------

And see at the above: 

Subject: DT Correction: Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern
From: Joe Offer 
Date: 18 Jun 10 - 06:33 PM 

Here's what I would like to submit to the Digital Tradition as a correction:


UNTER DAYNE VAYSE SHTERN
(text, Avraham Sutskever; melody, Abraham Brudno)

Yiddish:

Unter dayne vayse shtern
Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant.
Mayne verter zaynen trern
Viln ruen in dayn hant.
Ze, es tunklt zeyer finkl
In mayn kelerdikn blik.
Un ikh hob gornit keyn vinkl
Zey tsu shenken dir tsurik.

Un ikh vil dokh, got getrayer,
Dir fartroyen mayn farmeg.
Vayl es mont in mir a fayer
Un in fayer - mayne teg.
Nor in kelern un lekher
Veynt di merderishe ru.
Loyf ikh hekher, iber dekher
Un ikh zukh: vu bistu, vu?

Nemen yogn mikh meshune
Trep un hoyfin mit gevoy.
Heng ikh - a geplaste strune
Un ikh zing tsu dir azoy:

Unter dayne vayse shtern
Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant.
Mayne verter zaynen trern
Viln ruen in dayn hant.

English (singable translation by Roslyn Bresnick-Perry)

:Under Your Starry Heaven 

Under your white starry heaven 
Offer me your pale white hand. 
All my words are flowing teardrops, 
I would place them in your hand. 
Gone the luster from their brightness, 
Seen through morbid cellar view - 
And I no longer have my own space 
To reflect them back to you. 

My devoted God I offer 
Everything that I possess, 
As the fire that I suffer 
Fills each fiery day I pass. 
Only in the holes and cellars 
With deadly rest my days I share. 
I run higher - over spire 
Searching where are you, oh where? 

I am chased by phantom beings 
Stairs and courtyards goad me too. 
There I hang a broken bowstring - 
And I sing once more to you: 
Under your white starry heaven 
Offer me your pale white hand. 
All my words are flowing teardrops, 
I would place them in your hand. 


English (literal translation)

Under Your white stars
Stretch to me Your white hand.
My words are tears,
Wanting to rest in Your hand.
See, they twinkle very darkly
In my cellar-beaten view;
And I have no place
How to send them back to You.

And I will, dear God,
Confide in you these of mine
While in me a fire grows
And on fire are my days.
But in cellars and holes
Cries the murderous quiet
I fly higher, over rooftops
And I search: Where are You? Where?

Something strange hunts me
Stairs and courtyards are on chase
I hang as a broken bow-string
And I sing to You this way:
Under Your white stars
Stretch to me Your white hand.
My words are tears,
Wanting to rest in Your hand.

Source We Are Here: Songs of the Holocaust, complied by Eleanor Mlotek and Malke Gottlieb (Workmen's Circle, 1983), pages 48-49.


Note: (from Mlotek and other sources) This song was written in the Vilna ghetto, words by Abraham Sutskever (1913-2010); music by Abraham Brudno (?-1944). It was first presented in the ghetto theater in the play " Di Yogenish in Fas" (the hunt in the barrel, a pun on Diogenes in a barrel.) It was first sung by Zlate Katcherginsky. After the liquidation of the ghetto, Suskever joined the partisan fighters. He survived the war and lived in Israel where he edited the literary quarterly "Di Goldene Keyt". Sutzkever died January, 20, 2010 The composer, Avrom Brudno, following the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto, was deported to a German concentration camp in Estonia, where he died. YW

@Yiddish @WWII @Holocaust @religion @memorial
filename[ UNTRDAYN
YW

---------------------

Much more online but I should stop here!  

JL

UnterDayneVayseShtern Yiddish Oysies

אונטער דײנע ווײסע שטערן

אונטער דיינע ווייסע שטערן

שטרעק צו מיר דיין ווײסע האנט

מיינע װערטער זענען טרערן

וועלן רוען אין דיין האנט

 

זע עס טונקלט זייער פינקל

אין מײן קעלערדיקן בליק

און איך האָב גאַרניט קיין ווינקל

זיי צו שענקען דיר צוריק

 

אונטער דיינע ווייסע שטערן

שטרעק צו מיר דיין ווײסע האנט

מיינע װערטער זענען טרערן

וועלן רוען אין דיין האנט

https://lyricstranslate.com

Partizaner Lid

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zog_nit_keyn_mol 

Original Yiddish

,זאָג ניט קיין מאָל, אַז דו גייסט דעם לעצטן וועג
.כאָטש הימלען בלײַענע פֿאַרשטעלן בלויע טעג
– קומען וועט נאָך אונדזער אויסגעבענקטע שעה
!ס׳וועט אַ פּויק טאָן אונדזער טראָט: מיר זײַנען דאָ

,פֿון גרינעם פּאַלמענלאַנד ביז ווײַסן לאַנד פֿון שניי
,מיר קומען אָן מיט אונדזער פּײַן, מיט אונדזער וויי
,און וווּ געפֿאַלן ס׳איז אַ שפּריץ פֿון אונדזער בלוט
!שפּראָצן וועט דאָרט אונדזער גבֿורה, אונדזער מוט

,ס׳וועט די מאָרגנזון באַגילדן אונדז דעם הײַנט
,און דער נעכטן וועט פֿאַרשווינדן מיט דעם פֿײַנט
– נאָר אויב פֿאַרזאַמען וועט די זון אין דעם קאַיאָר
.ווי אַ פּאַראָל זאָל גיין דאָס ליד פֿון דור צו דור

,דאָס ליד געשריבן איז מיט בלוט, און ניט מיט בלײַ
,ס׳איז ניט קיין לידל פֿון אַ פֿויגל אויף דער פֿרײַ
דאָס האָט אַ פֿאָלק צווישן פֿאַלנדיקע ווענט
.דאָס ליד געזונגען מיט נאַגאַנעס אין די הענט

,טאָ זאָג ניט קיין מאָל, אַז דו גייסט דעם לעצטן וועג
.כאָטש הימלען בלײַענע פֿאַרשטעלן בלויע טעג
– קומען וועט נאָך אונדזער אויסגעבענקטע שעה
!ס׳וועט אַ פּויק טאָן אונדזער טראָט: מיר זײַנען דאָ

-------------------

Yiddish transliteration: Zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg, Khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg. Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho, S'vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do! Fun grinem palmenland biz vaysn land fun shney, Mir kumen on mit undzer payn, mit undzer vey, Un vu gefaln s'iz a shprits fun undzer blut, Shprotsn vet dort undzer gvure, undzer mut! S'vet di morgnzun bagildn undz dem haynt, Un der nekhtn vet farshvindn mit dem faynt, Nor oyb farzamen vet di zun in dem kayor – Vi a parol zol geyn dos lid fun dor tsu dor. Dos lid geshribn iz mit blut, un nit mit blay, S'iz nit keyn lidl fun a foygl oyf der fray, Dos hot a folk tsvishn falndike vent Dos lid gezungen mit naganes in di hent. To zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg, Khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg. Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho – S'vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do! ------------------------------------- English translation: Never say that you're going your last way Although the skies filled with lead cover blue days Our promised hour will soon come Our marching steps ring out: 'We are here!' From green lands of palm to lands with white snow We come with our pain and our woes And from where a spurt of our blood falls Will sprout our strength and our courage Today the morning sun will accompany us And our enemies will fade away with yesterday But if the sun waits to rise Like a password this song will go from generation to generation This song is written with blood and not with [pencil] lead It's not a tune sung by birds in the wild This song was sung by people amidst collapsing walls Sung with pistols in their hands So never say that you're going your last way Although the skies filled with lead cover blue days Our promised hour will soon come Our marching steps ring out: 'We are here'! By Hersh Glick, 1943                                             ###

Unter Dayne Vayse Shterne from Mlotek Collection

https://yiddishsongs.org/unter-dayne-vayse-shtern/

אונטער דײַנע װײַסע שטערן
שטרעק צו מיר דײַן װײַסע האַנט.
מײַנע װערטער זײַנען טרערן
װילן רוען אין דײַן האַנט.
זע, עס טונקלט זײער פֿינקל
אין מײַן קעלערדיקן בליק,
און איך האָב גאָרניט קײן װינקל
זײ צו שענקען דיר צוריק.

און איך װיל דאָך, גאָט געטרײַער,
דיר פֿאַרטרױען מײַן פֿאַרמעג.
װײַל עס מאָנט אין מיר אַ פֿײַער,
און אין פֿײַער — מײַנע טעג.
נאָר אין קעלערן און לעכער
װײנט די מערדערישע רו.
לױף איך העכער, איבער דעכער
און איך זוך: װוּ ביסטו, װוּ?

נעמען יאָגן מיך משונה
טרעפּ און הױפֿן מיט געװױ.
הענג איך — אַ געפּלאַצטע סטרונע
און איך זינג צו דיר אַזױ:
אונטער דײַנע װײַסע שטערן
שטרעק צו מיר דײַן װײַסע האַנט.
מײַנע װערטער זײַנען טרערן
װילן רוען אין דײַן האַנט.

---------------------------------------

Unter dayne vayse shtern
Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant.
Mayne verter zaynen trern
Viln ruen in dayn hant.
Ze, es tunklt zeyer finkl
In mayn kelerdikn blik.
Un ikh hob gornit keyn vinkl
Zey tsu shenken dir tsurik.

Un ikh vii dokh, got getrayer,
Dir fartroyen mayn farmeg.
Vayl es mont in mir a fayer
Un in fayer — mayne teg.
Nor in kelern un lekher
Veynt di merderishe ru.
Loyf ikh hekher, iber dekher
Un ikh zukh: vu bistu, vu?

Nemen yogn mikh meshune
Trep un hoyfn mit gevoy.
Heng ikh — a geplatste strune
Un ikh zing tsu dir azoy:
Unter dayne vayse shtern
Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant.
Mayne verter zaynen trern
Viln ruen in dayn hant.

-------------------------------------------

Under your white starry heaven
Offer me your pale white hand.
All my words are flowing teardrops.
I would place them in your hand.
Gone the luster from their brightness,
Seen through morbid cellar view –
And I no longer have my own space
To reflect them back to you.

My devoted God I offer
Everything that I possess.
As the fire that I suffer
Fills each fiery day I pass.
Only in the holes and cellars
With deadly rest my days I share.
I run higher – over spire
Searching where are you, oh where?

I am chased by phantom beings
Stairs and courtyards goad me too.
There I hang a broken bowstring –
And I sing once more to you:
Under your white starry heaven
Offer me your pale white hand.
All my words are flowing teardrops,
I would place them in your hand.

                            ###

Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern by Avrum Sutzkever from the Mlotek Collection. YIDDISH OSYES ONLY

אונטער דײַנע װײַסע שטערן
שטרעק צו מיר דײַן װײַסע האַנט.
מײַנע װערטער זײַנען טרערן
װילן רוען אין דײַן האַנט.
זע, עס טונקלט זײער פֿינקל
אין מײַן קעלערדיקן בליק,
און איך האָב גאָרניט קײן װינקל
זײ צו שענקען דיר צוריק.

און איך װיל דאָך, גאָט געטרײַער,
דיר פֿאַרטרױען מײַן פֿאַרמעג.
װײַל עס מאָנט אין מיר אַ פֿײַער,
און אין פֿײַער — מײַנע טעג.
נאָר אין קעלערן און לעכער
װײנט די מערדערישע רו.
לױף איך העכער, איבער דעכער
און איך זוך: װוּ ביסטו, װוּ?

נעמען יאָגן מיך משונה
טרעפּ און הױפֿן מיט געװױ.
הענג איך — אַ געפּלאַצטע סטרונע
און איך זינג צו דיר אַזױ:
אונטער דײַנע װײַסע שטערן
שטרעק צו מיר דײַן װײַסע האַנט.
מײַנע װערטער זײַנען טרערן
װילן רוען אין דײַן האַנט.

https://yiddishsongs.org/unter-dayne-vayse-shtern/

The Yosl and Chana Mlotek Yiddish Song Collection and th Workers Circle

YiddishSongs.org