Yiddish Lyrics

oy, vifl yorn
zenen farforn
zayt ikh bin a milner ot to do:
di reder dreyen zikh
di yorn geyen zikh,
ikh bin shoyn alt un grayz un gro.

s'iz teg faranen
kh'vil mikh dermonen
tsi kh'hob gehat
a shtikl glik---
di reder dreyen zikh
di yorn geyen zikh
keyn entfer iz nit do tsurik.

'kh hob gehert zogn
men vel mikh faryogn
aroys fun dorf
un fun der mil.
di reder dreyen zikh
di yorn geyen zikh
oy, on an ek un on a tsil.

fun glik fartribn
bin ikh geblibn
on vayb, on kind
ot do aleyn.
di reder dreyen zikh
di yorn geyen zikh,
un eylent bin ikh vi a shteyn.

vu vel ikh voynen
ver vet mikh shoynen
ikh bin shoyn alt
ikh bin shoyn mid --
di reder dreyen zikh
di yorn geyen zikh,
un oykh mit zey geyt oys der yid.

Translation

oh how many years
have passed
since i've been a miller here
the wheels turn
the years pass
i'm growing old and grey.

there are days
i want to remember
if i had a little happiness?
the wheels turn
the years pass
i don't get any answers

i heard it said
they want to drive me out
away from my village and away from the mill
the wheels turn
the years pass
without an end, without a goal

[this verse omitted from Levison translation]
Exiled from happiness
I remain without it
No wife or child--myself alone.
The wheels turn
The years pass
I am miserable as a stone

where will i live?
who will care for me?
i'm already old, i'm already tired
the wheels turn
the years pass
and with them, also go the jews

(or more poetically, as the mloteks translated: and soon
no
trace of the
jews will remain)

- translated by Jenny Levison