SurVision Magazine

Pharaoh and Joseph


for Dr. Benn



Pharaoh casts out his blossoming women;
They smell of the gardens of Amon.

His kingly head rests upon my shoulder
That smells of grain.

Pharaoh is made of gold.
His eyes depart and return
Like the shimmering waves of the Nile.

But his heart rests in my blood.
Ten wolves came to my trough.

Pharaoh always thinks of my brothers
Who threw me into the pit.

When he sleeps, his arms turn into pillars,
Threatening ones.

But his dreaming heart murmurs in my bosom.

That's why my lips rhyme great sweetness
With the wheat of our morning.


Translated from the German by Yulia Kudryavitskaya






Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945) was a German Jewish poet from Elberfeld, Westfalia, who lived most of her life in Berlin. The winner of Germany's most prestigious Kleist Prize, she was affiliated with the Expressionist movement. In 1933, during the Nazi period, she was forced into exile and died in Jerusalem.