The Nest Disappears

Aaron Zeitlin

1939

(Written at the end of 1939 in Havana—with thoughts about Poland)

Our poor nest eternally atremble
in the wind.
What will happen now, in bloody storm,
mayn kind?
Now, in bloody storm . . . ?
The tree will fall, fall
mayn kind.
And our nest—in the storm—will be lost,
mayn kind.
Our nest, from the storm, will be gone.
I see new nests on young…
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Creator Bio

Aaron Zeitlin

1898–1973
A poet, writer, playwright, essayist, and editor Aaron Zeitlin (Arn Tseytlin) was the eldest son of Hillel Zeitlin and the brother of Elkhonen Zeitlin (1902–1942). Born in Homel (then Russian Gomel, now in Belarus), Zeitlin lived in Warsaw between 1907 and 1938. Beginning to write lyrical poetry as a child, Zeitlin was most prolific in interwar Warsaw. He participated in the debate over the role of Yiddish literature, attacking the politicization of Yiddish literature and developing an aesthetic of combining historical events with existential and mystical themes. He was the chair of the Yiddish PEN club from 1930 to 1934, and founded, with the help of Isaac Bashevis Singer, the literary monthly Globus. Zeitlin happened to be in New York at the outbreak of World War II. He was powerless to save the family he had left behind. He continued to write and teach in New York City. His postwar writing was preoccupied with the Holocaust and parapsychology.

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