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.
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