Love note from the Eternal Jew

In this brief scene, the Eternal Jew is on a mission to deliver a message to a foreign king, and he is thinking about why he feels so much anxiety, since, in the past he usually enjoyed travel and its adventure. He realizes it because of his “new” wife, Butkoel, who he misses.

The first version is in Stevetok, metaEnglish, and following that, is an old English, that is, standard English version.

But now this sixtee or atee yeer
The fase a Butkoel an the voisen uv her;
Her tuchez, her smelz, the wayen her theenks...
Serten, ar boddee ar seprat shelz,
But the seel uv us, ware iz its ej?
Iz the shellen ar boddee the shellen ar seelz?
The rawhide thongz that choke uv my guts
Ar the sinnuez a me that groen intu her.
I rememberz seeyen a skechen a treez,
Tu2 a them, side by side,
Koyelz tugether, trunken a branch,
The leef a this az the leef a that,
An intu the erth ther rooten, too,
Bekum wun treez. Butkoel an me.


And translated into “old English” and into a more personal version:

But now these nearly 40 years
The face of Nancy and the voices of her;
Her touches, her smells, the way she thinks...
Certain, our bodies are separate shells,
But the soul of us, where is its edge?
Are the shells of our bodies the shells of our souls?
The rawhide thongs that choke my guts
Are the sinews of me that have grown into her.
I remember seeing a sketch of trees,
Two of them, side by side,
Coiled together, trunk and branch,
The leaf of this as the leaf of that,
An into the earth their roots, too,
Become one tree. Nancy and me.