Hear the Poet Recite Her Own Poetry

The following 70 tracks were on a CD that Basman Ben-Hayim made in Israel.  She and the producer of the CD disc, Mr. Leo Fayerman,  have given me permission to put these recordings online for the general public.

addendum for Basman post 

After hearing a bit of music, you can listen to the poet talk about writing poetry: click on the following:  01IntroductionbyPoet

English translation of introduction

To listen to the poem called  “In Bloom”, click on the following: 02InBli

English translation of In Bloom

What follows is one of the few poems in which the poet touches on what might be called a “political” subject.  It is her view that there should be no such thing as capital punishment.  It’s called: “Why Must We Kill a Person?”.  To hear it click:  03TsuVosDarfMenTeytnAMentch

English translation of Why Must We Kill a Person

The following poem is entitled: “One Gets Sick From Remembering”: 04FunGedenknVertMenKrank

English translation of One Gets Sick

The following poem is entitled: “We Are Uneasy”: 05Umru’ikZaynenMir

English translation of We Are Uneasy

This poem is entitled: “‘Tollarup’- A Street with a Musical Name”:  06TollarupaGasMitaZingeknNomen

English translation of Tollarop, A Street with a Melodious Name

The following poem is entitled: “Those Forests are Still Aflame” : 07EsFlamenNokhAltsYeneVelder

The following poem is entitled “Bright [Written] Lines”: 08LikhtikeShures

The following poem is entitled “The Gift” 09DiMatone

The following poem is entitled: “In Memory of My Little Brother Arele”: 10LeZeykherMaynBrunderlArele

This poem is entitled: “You Say We Must Record”:  11DuZogstMenDarfFarshraybn

This poem is entitled: “Have You Seen How the Tree Has Aged?”12HostGezenViDiBoymIzGevornaZokn

Click here for the poem “Amid the Surrounding Noise”: 13InTumelFunArum

This poem is entitled “Time Doesn’t Pass Without Leaving Signs”: 14DiTsaytFargeytNitOnSimonim

Click here for “My Mother”: 15MaynMame

The following poem, written after the poet spent time in Soviet Russia (during the Cold War) is entitled: “In the Moscow Synagogue”: 16InMoskverShul

The following poem is entitled “A Stone Lamb”: 17AShefeleFunShteyn

The following poem is entitled: “The Most Beautiful Thing I Saw at Dawn”:  18DiShensteZakhVosKh’hobGezenBaginen

Click here for: “What Does a Person Take Along for the Road?” 19VosNemtAMentshMitZikhInVeg

Click here for: “For Whom Does a Flower Bloom?” 20FarVemenBlitABlum

The following poem is entitled: “Sometimes You Have to Re-take Old Paths” 21MenDarfAmolBanayenAlteVegn

The following poem is entitled: “If People Were to Start Their Day Planting Flowers”: 22AzMentshnVoltnOngehoybnZeyerTogMitFlantsnBlumen

Click here for: “Did You Know the Young Man Who Fell Yesterday Along the Jordan?” (It should be noted that in Israel one says “fell” when one means “killed in war”.): 23TsiKentIrDemYinglVosIzNekhtnGefalnBamYarden

 The poet dedicates this poem to Rami, a former  pupil who was killed. Click here for “My Pupil”:  24MaynerATalmid

This poem is entitled: “To a Turtle”: 25TsuAShildkret

This poem is entitled: “What Does a Bird Do When Its Loved-one Dies?” : 26VosTutAFoyglVenZaynNoenteShtarbt

Click here for “Let’s Hear Good Music” : 27LomirHernGuteMuzik

Click here for: “[I] Struggled a Whole Night”: 28AGantseNakhtGerangltZikh

This poem  is entitled: “Night-time Walks”:  29NakhtikeShpatsirn

This poem is entitled: “The Salty Figure of Lot’s Wife”:  30DiZaltsikeGeshtaltFunEyshesLot

Click here for: “To the Grey Path”: 31TsumGroziknShteg

Click here for: “It’s Not a (Great) Feat”:  32S’izNitKeynKunts

This poem is entitled: “When It’s Quiet I speak Yiddish”: 33InShtilkaytReydIkhYidish

This poem is entitled; “You Can Lean On a Word”: 34OyfAVortKonMenZikhOnshparn

Click here for: “Poems are Sad”: 35LiderZaynenUmetik

Click her for: “A Day”: 36ATog

The following poem is entitled: “We Drained Swamps”.  It is a reference to the national project, undertaken in the 1950s,  to drain the Hula Valley swamp.  This turned out to be ecologically unwarranted. Late in the 20th century, the swamp was returned to its pristine condition.  This is Basman Ben-Hayim’s (pithy) take on that story. 37MirHobnGetriknZumpn

This poem is entitled: “The Rain”: 38DerRegn

This poem is entitled: “My Doctor, the Tree”: 39MaynDoktorDerBoym

Click here for “We Re-pay Everyone with Gold”:  40MirTsolnOpAYedernMitGold

Click here for: “Who knows”: 41VerVeyst

This poem is entitled “Don’t start Up with the Night”.  There is a sly humor here, as there is in Basman Ben-Hayim’s poem “My Desert is Hotter than Yours”. : 42HeybZikhNitOnMitDerNakht

This poem is entitled: “Far-Away Suns: For Meyer Yellin”.  (Meyer Yellin was a fellow Yiddish writer who lived in Israel.) : 43VayterZunenFarMayerYelin

This poem is entitled “Sholem Rozenfled”.  Rozenfeld was a well-known community leader in the  Yiddish world as well as a friend of the poet.: 44SholemRozenfeld

Click here for the poem: “In Equal Parts”:  45GlaykhOyfGlaykh

Click here for the pome: “Flower-like White” :46BlumikVays

This poem is entitled “Mula”.  Mula (a nickname for Shmuel) Ben-Hayim, an artist,  was Basman Ben-Hayim’s husband. See the biography above for more. :  47Mula

This poem is entitled: “Longing”: 48Benkshaft

This poem is entitled: “The Earth Remembers”.  Like many other poems the poet has written, the Holocaust is in the poem, but it is addressed only tangentially. 49DiErdGedenkt

Click here for the poem: “Polonaise”: 50Polonez

Click here for “The Sun Begins Setting While on High”: 51DiZunHeybtOnGeynFunDerHeykh

The following poem is entitled: “History”: 52Historye

The following poem is entitled: “I Saw in a Tree”: 53Kh’hobGezenInABoym

Click here for the poem: “Young Artists”.  One should remember that for a while Basman Ben-Hayim and her husband lived in the artists’ colony of Tsfat. 54YungeMolers

Click here for the poem: “Still Life”: 55ShtilLebn

The following poem is entitled; “The Sun-Dial Stood Still”: 56DerZunZaygerIzGeblibnShteyn

The following poem is entitled: “In Seeking Out Love”: 57InShpurnFunLibshaft

The following poem is entitled: “Poem Elixir”: 58LiderEliksir

The following poem is entitled: “The Day that Slides Away”: 59DerTogVosGeytFarbay

The following poem can be found in English translation in the introductory essay above (“Not Yet: a Great Yiddish Poet Lives”).  Click here for the poem “Spring”: 60Friling

The following poem is entitled “Purim in the City”: 61PurimInShtot

Click here for the poem: “Don’t Hurry – an English Poem”: 62AyltNitAnEnglishLid

Click here for the poem: “Pigeons Speak YIddish”:  63ToybnReydnYidish

The following poem is entitled; “Sometimes a House is Compared to a Ship”: 64AmolIzGeglikhnAShtubTsuAShif

The following poem is entitled: “Loners”: 65Aleyngeyers

The following poem is entitled: “On Mula’s Tenth Yortsayt” (Alternatively: “On the Tenth Anniversary of Mula’s Death”):  66TsuMula’sTsentnYortsayt

Click here for the poem: “Years Later I Understand” : 67NokhYornBanemIkh

Click here for the poem: “Those Who Hug a Tree”: 68DiVosNemenArumABoym

The following poem is entitled: “I’ll Go Holiday-like During the Week” 69Kh’velGeynYontefInDerVokhn

The final track is music the poet chose to end this series of recitations.  To hear it click on: 70Music

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