Paul Celan translations of Holocaust Poems
These are my modern English translations of Holocaust poems by Paul Celan, a Jewish poet who wrote the original poems in German.
Todesfuge ("Death Fugue")
by Paul Celan
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
LISTEN!
"Listen" is a prophetic poem I wrote around age 17 or 18, then revised and completed around 20 years later.
Listen
by Michael R. Burch
also published as Immanuel A. Michael
Listen to me now and heed my voice;
I am a madman, alone, screaming in the wilderness,
but listen now.
Listen to me now, and if I say
that black is black, and white is white, and in between lies gray,
I have no choice.
Does a madman choose his words? They come to him,
the moon’s illuminations, intimations of the wind,
and he must speak.
