I Am the Night - Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger

I am the night. My veils are much softer
Than the white of death's dark vale.
All burning pain do I cool
In my blackened boat under sail.

My lover is the long, winding way;
Betrothed are we and forever are there.
I love him and covered is he
With my silken-soft, raven-black hair.

My kiss is as sweet as lilac scent—
To the traveller, quite familiar…
When he sinks into my arms,
He forgets every passionate lover.

My hands are so slender and white,
That they calm every fever
And every brow that they touch
Must smile softly, yielding to its reliever.

I am the night. My veils are much softer
Than the white of death's dark vale.
All burning pain do I cool
In my blackened boat under sail.

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Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924- 1942) Ukraine
Translated by David Paley
Source: Poems without frontiers