Scottsboro
Isaac Rontsh
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
I have seen the black masses on their knees
In ecstasy for Jesus Lord and Savior.
Their staring eyes keep glowing with more pleas,
Their calloused hands all stretching out in prayer.
And oh the servitude and self-abasement
The blind folk in their spirituals have sung.
How do they cower like small sickly children,
These young men, bass-voiced, broad-shouldered and strong?
Oh I have seen the black folk jazzing, dancing
To entertain the fat white Sir for pay,
I've seen their bright black fire burn to waste
For wealthy drunkards in the boiling cabaret.
But now I see the young black men stand stronger
Roaring in wild spurting rage the fierce
Song of Scottsboro, of struggle against hunger,
The song drowned out in blood these many years.
The big white teeth won't chatter when the whip cracks.
The black man shakes his clenched fist in their face.
No Jesus Lord, no spirituals, no kneeling. Just the cry
Of Scottsboro, the rage of struggle against race1.
Notes:
1 � Full disclosure: the original here literally reads "struggle against enemies." The word s�nim "enemies" is used, as opposed to its synonym, faynt, which occurs elsewhere in the poem. The word literally (or perhaps I should say, etymologically) means "those who hate" in Hebrew. It is not generally a particularly marked word, and is in fact the common Yiddish term for "enemies." However, in a great many contexts, it refers to the enemies of the Jews. (Undzer dam-sonim "our blood enemies" is a dysphemism for "antisemites.") In this context, the connotative effect, I think, is an implication that the enemy of blacks and of Jews is one and the same. There didn't seem like a good way to bring this out in English. I've used a different phrase which, I hope, is true to Rontsh's socialist sentiment.
The Original:
Isaac Rontsh
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
I have seen the black masses on their knees
In ecstasy for Jesus Lord and Savior.
Their staring eyes keep glowing with more pleas,
Their calloused hands all stretching out in prayer.
And oh the servitude and self-abasement
The blind folk in their spirituals have sung.
How do they cower like small sickly children,
These young men, bass-voiced, broad-shouldered and strong?
Oh I have seen the black folk jazzing, dancing
To entertain the fat white Sir for pay,
I've seen their bright black fire burn to waste
For wealthy drunkards in the boiling cabaret.
But now I see the young black men stand stronger
Roaring in wild spurting rage the fierce
Song of Scottsboro, of struggle against hunger,
The song drowned out in blood these many years.
The big white teeth won't chatter when the whip cracks.
The black man shakes his clenched fist in their face.
No Jesus Lord, no spirituals, no kneeling. Just the cry
Of Scottsboro, the rage of struggle against race1.
Notes:
1 � Full disclosure: the original here literally reads "struggle against enemies." The word s�nim "enemies" is used, as opposed to its synonym, faynt, which occurs elsewhere in the poem. The word literally (or perhaps I should say, etymologically) means "those who hate" in Hebrew. It is not generally a particularly marked word, and is in fact the common Yiddish term for "enemies." However, in a great many contexts, it refers to the enemies of the Jews. (Undzer dam-sonim "our blood enemies" is a dysphemism for "antisemites.") In this context, the connotative effect, I think, is an implication that the enemy of blacks and of Jews is one and the same. There didn't seem like a good way to bring this out in English. I've used a different phrase which, I hope, is true to Rontsh's socialist sentiment.
The Original:
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