You Are a Vision of an Agate, Dear Shaul Tchernichowsky 1875-1943 Written in Tel Aviv (Israel) 19.Feb.1934 English translation of a fragment by Yehuda Kassif 13.June.2004 |
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Shaul Tchernichowsky was born in 1875 in Michealovka (Ukraine). His parents were members of the Hibat Zion Movement and they favoured non-religious education. He went to a Russian school as well as a Hebrew school. 1890-1899: he lived in Odessa, where he has studied several languages, was influenced by classical European literature and Romantic literature. In 1892 he started to publish poems in Hebrew. In 1898 he published his first book of poems. 1899-1906: he studied medicine in Heidelberg (Germany). He graduated from medical school in 1906 in Lausanne (Switzerland). During this period he published poems, stories and other works. 1906-1922: he travelled in Russia looking for a place to build his house and establish his career as a physician. 1922-1931: he lived in Berlin (Germany). He wrote many stories and translated numerous works by Shakespeare, Moliere, Goethe, Homer, Sophocles and others. 1931-1943: he lived in Palestine. He worked as a physician and became very involved in the Zionist Movement in Palestine. He died and was buried in Tel Aviv in 1943. The following poem was written on 19 February 1934 in Tel Aviv. It is a long poem and I have translated only a fragment (about a third of it) because it is the part where he describes various gemstones. |
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You are a vision of an agate, dear, That brown agate… And I don’t mind if the wise and the experts Will look and say: ”Well, it’s merely a semi-precious gem”. I cherish the sparkle of the Serene glitter and glow, The fractions of shine And the warm deep light. It makes thee the prettiest Of all the chalcedony dynasty. ‘Cause my heart doesn’t yearn for the onyx - The dark tenebrous onyx, That moans in inanimate silence. It reminds me of a monk’s cloak - Stripes of white and black - Which I loath. Nor am I fond of the sardonyx That looks like A nouveau-riche bourgeois, Adorned in his red-and-white Lined jacket. And, indeed, among her sister gems With all their numerous hues, Agate is the unembellished indigent one That does not softly shine - Like a diamond-dropping tear; And does not burn In an impudent red ruby flame; Her colors do not melt into each other Like the opal – the vicious stone; And does not smile gloomily Like the perfumed violet amethyst; And does not have the greenish duckweed Of a meadow-swamp at the end of summer Like the verdant emerald; And is not soaked with the burning Ethiopian sun Like the sacred topaz; And its inclusions are not moving clouds Inside the weary, dreaming sapphire; And it lacks all the golden stars Set in the colored skies of the Grayish-orangey ligure. For me, my dear, You are the vision of an agate, Agate, the brown agate… |
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© Created by ICA Gem Bureau Idar-Oberstein |
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