ITZIK MANGER

HAGAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

Hagar sits all weeping

on a stone mid road

and asks the winds

which way to go.

One says, Go east -

the other - due west

and the third, a grand trickster

plays tricks in her hair.

She asks the birds

flying this way and that.

One says - go north -

and the other south.

Hagar weeps: "God in Heaven,"

For years I've been so devoted,

and now I'm scorned

by the bird and the wind.

And Hagar lifts her eyes

and sees a caravan,

and -

a green-robed Sultan

striding ahead.

He comes nearer, nearer

then speaks in a resolute tone,

"Say, aren't you Hagar,

the concubine of Abraham?

"And the little fat brat

is Ishmael, I presume.

The Prophet has proclaimed

we descend from his race."

And he bows down before her

and grovels in the dust

"We've found our chosen ones:

Allah, Allah, be praised!"

And Hagar sits astounded

And doesn't know what is true.

And a silver half-moon

glimmers in her hair.

translated from the Yiddish

by Karen Alkalay-Gut