To Say A Prayer

^{Translated from the Yiddish of Abraham Sutzkever}

I have the urge to say a prayer. I do not know to whom.
He who once gave me comfort will not hear it, should it come.
      To whom, then, would I pray?
      I am its choked-up prey.

Maybe I should entreat a star up there: "old distant friend,
Come substitute for my lost speech. I am at my words' end.
      "That good star deep in ether
      Won't hear my prayer either.

But I have got to say a prayer. Someone very near,
Somebody in my soul is tortured, and demands a prayer.
      So I jabber on and on
      Senselessly until dawn.

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- Vilna Ghetto, January 1942

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