Creator Bio
César Tiempo
1906–1980
César Tiempo was the pen name of the Argentine poet, playwright, and screenwriter Israel Zeitlin, who was born in Ekaterinoslav (today, Dnipro), Ukraine, and brought to Buenos Aires as an infant. A prominent figure in Argentine literary circles, he wrote more than three dozen screenplays for the Argentine cinema. His plays and poetry feature Jewish characters and Jewish themes and were often concerned with the downtrodden and the exploited of society. He was also a vocal critic of Argentine antisemitism.
Content by César Tiempo
Primary Source
Dirge for a Bar That Has Closed Down
The slow and green river that winds throughthe blanched street of the Jewish Quarterkept watch over your agony.From my old tableI used to see himapproach your windows withrestless eyes. And as he…
Primary Source
Freckled Childhood
I certainly had an obscure childhood
but intensely my own,
a childhood which wanted to be dashing
but had the features of a caricature.
Yes, a caricature. For example:
that absurd love for Sophie,…
Primary Source
Romance of the Gambler’s Girls
Reb Menashe Dorogofsky
what beautiful girls you have!
the brunette enchants me,
also, the red-head.
The trampled plants of our century
spring again from their feet
the curve of the Hebrew sky
which…
Primary Source
A Series of Verses to the Venerable Ancient Whose Portrait Hangs in the Window of a Lottery Agency
The Avenida de Mayo
glows with a virginal light beneath the Sabbath sky.
That light strikes
the window pane that displays your portrait:
Laban amidst a flock of gaily colored lottery
tickets, green…
Primary Source
Verses to a Dictionary and to the Neckerchiefs (Worn by the Gauchos)
With you, it is not impossible to define
creatures and things with the simplicity
of the fish whose scales streak the sea with blue and gold,
Or of the sea itself that swells with the gracefulness of…
Primary Source
Paraphrase
The Bible tells us that from the heights
Moses blessed the children of Israel,
showing them God’s Promised Land,
where Moses himself never entered.
Like ships passing by when land is in sight
so…