וידוי [Vidui] [English translation]

My plain overcoat and the bridge in the lamplight

My rain-wetted lips and the cold of that fall night

So it was that you saw me first, do you recall?

And I knew there and then, it was clear and unsaid1

I'll be vital for you, just like water or bread.

Like for water or bread, you'll come back to my call

In our bitterest dearth, when your rage overcame

More than once did you curse me to death and to shame

And my cold shoulders shivered – with joy.

For I knew there and then, it was clear to me

That they'll lead you away in chains for me

And my heart, even then, will not stray from you.

No, it's never been good, it's been wondrously dreadfull,

But recall how we met on that night of all nights.

Should it happen again, let it never be different:

Only that love, so poor and rebelious,

The same overcoat with the rose in its lapel,

In that same simplest of dresses.

Should it happen again, let it never be different:

Just the same, no note lost, no note gained2.

I was jealous for you. In the darkness I waited

And I loved you to tears, and to bliss then I hated.

Our house was ever barren of laughter to find.

When you would return home, dog-beaten and angered,

You venged on me tenfold the insults of strangers.

Even distant, I knew I was still on your mind.

And that night when left, when you slammed the door wide,

To never return, with me bearing a child,

Though the light left my eyes, my heart did not sway

For I knew there and then, it was clear to me

That you'll come back again and fall on your knees

And I will look in your face and say

Yes, it's never been good, it's been wondrously dreadfull,

But I'm glad that we met on that night of all nights.

Should it happen again, let it never be different:

Only that love, so poor and rebelious,

The same overcoat with the rose in its lapel,

In that same simplest of dresses.

Should it happen again, let it never be different:

Just the same, no note lost, no note gained.

And I knew: But for you, I will not have a lover,

And I knew that my death will not come from another

And I am expecting and waiting it, glad.

Be it swift, as an axe fells a tree in a forest

Or be slow to come, in sorrow and torment

But not by a stranger's, but by your own hand

Even then, to your house, on a night poor and grieving

I'll return in a dream, more fool I for not leaving

To say: Here I come, from wandering my paths.

For I know here and now, it is clear, percise,

That I'll come to your house when you close your eyes

Until you are carried to me at last.

Yes, it's never been good, it's been wondrously dreadfull,

But as God is my witness, who plans all our fates,

Should it happen again, let it never be different:

Only that love, so poor and rebelious,

The same overcoat with the rose in its lapel,

In that same simplest of dresses.

Should it happen again, let it never be different:

Just the same, no note lost, no note gained.

1. literally: it was clear to me like two and two2. literally: let it be as it is, note for note