Exodus
(Ekzod)

1.

With white scarves
At the doorstep
Waving
From behind the window curtains
Tears in our eyes
In a sombre room,
In longing
Did we wish you
A fair journey,
Pallid,
Pallid,
When you left us.

2.

Large is our home,
Large the courtyard
When I cross it barefoot,
How long the day, how long,
Shaky is my pace,
I tumble and rise like a child
When it learns to walk,
How long my hair,
How strong my breasts,
The crimson apples, how mature they are now,
What thirst for apple juice,
I stand there in the courtyard,
Where are you?

3.

The maidens cut their hair
Their games forgotten
When the boys once chased us
For our braids,
Few of you have remained
Since the exodus began.

4.

At the river
We’ll wash our hair,
We’ll wash our ruddy faces,
We’ll sprinkle our breasts with water,
We’ll drench ourselves at the river,
We’ll be like the Virgin Mary
If they do not return.

5.

Do not observe yourselves in the mirror,
Barren maidens,
Every day more wrinkles
In our eyes, on face and brow
Flow tears,
Let us abandon our longing in the stairwell
And bow our heads
Like old women.

6.

Woe upon us
If it does not rain
And the river runs dry
And they do not return,
Night has fallen
Woe upon us, woe.

7.

The maidens walk
Like flowers,

Longing, longing, longing
Wings hover in the air,
Are there dewdrops
In the early morning hours?
The wind rises,
Their heads pressed close together,
The flowers walk hand in hand,
Towards the sun
Behind them
Grows the flowerless grass.