Take Me Under Your Wing / Chaim Nachman Bialik 

Take me under your wing,

be my mother, my sister.

Take my head to your breast,

my banished prayers to your nest.

One merciful twilight hour,

hear my pain, bend your head.

They say there is youth in the world.

Where has my youth fled?

Listen! Another secret:

I have been seared by a flame.

They say there is love in the world.

How do we know love’s name?

I was deceived by the stars.

There was a dream; it passed.

Now I have nothing at all in the world,

nothing but a vast waste.

Take me under your wing,

be my mother, my sister.

Take my head to your breast,

my banished prayers to your nest.

​

I Planted You In My Garden / Rachel

I planted you in my garden, in the hidden garden - in my heart.

Your branches have become intertwined and your roots deepened within me.

And from morning to night it shall not know rest,

The garden shall not be calm - as you are in it,

You in it with your thousands of birds rejoicing.

​

Slichot / Leah Goldberg

You came to me, to open my eyes.

To me your body was a view, a window and a mirror.

You came as night comes to the owl

To show him, in the darkness, all things.

And I learned: There's a name for each eyelash and fingernail,

And for every hair on the exposed flesh.

And the scent of childhood - the scent of paste and pine

Is the night aroma of the body.

If there were torments - they've sailed towards you.

My white sail into your darkness.

Allow me to go, oh allow me to go

And kneel on the shore of forgiveness.

​

Your Forehead Adorned / Avraham Halfi, Yoni Rechter

Adorned is your forehead with black gold (I can't remember if it was written in a song)

Your forehead rhymes with eyes and light (I can't remember if it was rhymed in a song)

But for whoever you'll be

His life is filled with song

Your pink robe is fluffy and soft

You always wrap yourself in it before night

I wouldn't want to be your brother

Nor a monk praying to the image of an angel

And see grim dreams of sanctity

And in front of him you, a woman.

You like to be sad and silent,

To listen to a story about something close, something far.

And I, who will often be watching you silently,

no sound or words,

Forgetting everything about other people.

My soul resides within the walls of your home.

Captive between your walls, set apart from me,

As I in my body am apart from you.

Stretched out is my dream as a rug to your feet

Pace, beloved on its flowers your paces

Wear your pink robe before night.

In a short while I will come to you.

And your black gold adorned forehead

will come close to my lips like a rhyme to a song.

Then I’ll whisper to your ear til morning, til dawn, like a drunk:

Adorned is your forehead with black gold.

​

Sabbath Eve Song  / Yehuda Amichai

Will you come to me tonight?

The clothes are already on the line.

The endless war that never ceases

Is now in another place.

And roads return incessantly

Alone like a horse without rider

And the house is closed this evening

With the good and the bad within it.

And we knew very well that the border

Is near and we mustn’t go there

My father prayed

And the earth were finished and all their host

Host and earth have darkened

The lights will soon go out.

The command that heaven has started

Must again be finished by two.

 

We All Need Kindness / Natan Zach

We all need kindness

We all need contact

To gain warmth but not for money

To get through contact

To give without wanting to take

And not out of habit

Like a sun that shines

Like a shadow cast

Come let me show you a place

Where one can still breathe.

We all want to give

Yet only few know how

We now need to learn

That happiness doesn’t smile

That anything ever given

Will never be taken

That all of this has meaning

Even when the meaning is gone

Come let me show you a place

Where daylight still shines.

We all want to love

And we all want to be joyful

In order to be happy

In order to have strength.

​

Wear White / Naomi Shemer

This summer you'll wear white

And think bright thoughts

Maybe you'll get a love note

Maybe we'll have elections

I'll vote for you and you'll vote for me

And together we will be a majority

If this summer you'll just wear white

and pray for the best

This summer you'll wear white

and go with me on an outing

This summer we will make a wedding

and you'll finally be one of the brides

I'll vote for you....

We will go mad this summer

And then we will finally know calm

A miracle will happen to us this summer

If only you'll wear white

I'll vote for you....

​

You Took My Hand In Your Hand / Yaakov Rotblit, Matti Caspi

You took my hand in your hand and said to me:

let's go down to the garden.

You took my hand in your hand and said to me:

things that you see from there - can't be seen from here.

You played a song on the guitar for me

and your voice trembled

A spirit rose in me, a singing wind,

and it was as though time stood still

and I still remember each flavor and odor

being out in the field in the moonlight,

the voice of the jackal from the wadi and the weight of the fruit in the orchard,

things that you see from there - can't be seen from here.

I was alone and lost my way

and you came, you came at the (right) time.

I was alone and lost my way

things that you see from there - can't be seen from here.

You gave me a hand, and showed me the way

to many things

you brought a smile as nice as a flower

and the strength to believe.

And I still remember the song you sang

the good part from all you said.

Hey, angel or devil, will you come back again to stop time?

Things that you see from there - can't be seen from here.

​

Like A Ballad / Natan Yonatan

If a wreath of thorns hurts

This is what you love,

I will go to the desert

And learn there how to hurt.

And if you love poems,

Only those carved in stone -

I will live among the cliffs

And among the rocks I shall write.

And then, when we are covered

With sand in the dark

And the book of writings

shall be covered in the dark

Tell me words

More beautiful than crying and happiness;

He probably loved

me, that man.

​

Eternal Covenant (Brit Olam) / Ehud Manor & Matti Caspi

Soon, very soon we'll be one body -

you gave your hand in mine forever.

You are my witness that I get scared

and therefore tonight my whole body trembles.

Every day and night, all the time on one path -

uncharted.

Every day and night, all the time, together and alone

I'm faithful to you, to myself.

I love you tonight and with you I get sad

I love you tonight and with you I get excited,

until the heart, until pain -

hoping and getting closer.

Slowly we'll gently discover

who I am, who you are and maybe, just maybe we'll learn

to compromise

and give more

until all that's left

is only our love

Every day, every night...

Soon morning will break

and I am drunk

but I want to remember you -

And cherish until the end of days,

until we pass

and the drum beat dies out.

​

He (Come, My Bride) / Leah Goldberg, Achinoam Nini & Gili Dor 

The nearness of you and the sea

Have stolen my sleep.

Your soul has blown in from the sea

Salty, it will penetrate my home.

And the waves in the tide

Ascend tearfully

To the heights of my love

Come, my bride

In a red moon facing the sea

Your blood flows.

In a red moon facing the sea

My blood and your blood.

And the waves in the tide

Call and cry out

Your name, your name, your name,

Come, my bride

How can I close my window

When the storm is near?

How can I close my window

When you are barefoot?

How can I close my window

When the sea has beckoned?

How can I close my window

When you are awake?

And the owl from deep in the night

Has shattered my sleep?

Come, my bride

​

In Our Love / Yehuda Amichai & Yehudit Ravitz

In our love

Body becomes place,

And will not dare breathe in our memory.

No matter what we have done,

Night will evaporate,

No matter what we have been

It is now a field.

Crops left and forgotten

In the corners of the past

For the hope of the ceremony

Will not save a thing.

A bougainvillea bush,

Time becomes place

In the eyes of the night

Day will be remembered.

Home and desert

Will quietly be remembered.

For the ceremony is all that’s left.

​

Under The Sky / Meir Ariel and David Broza

We have come here

From under the sky

Two - like a pair of eyes

We have time

Under the sky

In the meantime -

We're still here.

You and me

You and me

You and me

And the bed is wide

To give love.

Night and day

Night and day

Night and day

And the smile apologizes

for its laziness.

We two are one

We two are one, we two are one

One round whole

Whole and large.

Come let's give

Come let's give

Come let's give

I will let you to give / allow

Let me give / let you.

And despite the gap

And despite the pain

And despite the sadness

I love

And love

And love...

​

I Don’t Know / Yehuda Poliker & Yaakov Gilead

I don’t know if you know

How to love me as I am

I don’t know if I know

How to love you as you are

I take back awfully harsh words

That I told you and you told me, because every word is like a slap

Like a stab

Each word spoken

Perhaps I erred and didn’t see

Maybe you loved me your own way

If I could only know

Perhaps I’d be calm and rest

I take back awfully harsh words

That I told you and you told me too, because every word is like a slap

Like a stab

Each word spoken

Each word spoken

 Weekend In The Village / Meir Ariel

 

A weekend in the village
You were wonderful.
In a flowery dress and a butterfly
you were fluttering!
In the pastures the mooing
while the whiskey matured
and fields went crazy
when the business began -
then between us.

Revealed on the mountain
you were happy
Wild flowers in your hair and beer
Surrounded by orchards
and buzzing
pure honey in the light,
and your insides hummed
while I was drunk -
for your lips.

And in the village a ball.
An engagement party.
Dancing on the lawn
laughter and rejoicing!
Only we are absent
with everyone asking:
Where happened to them
where are they hanging out?

Another week has passed.
Where are you hiding?
Slouched over the bar
getting drunk as a souvenir.
And distant fields
won’t let me sleep!
Just sipping and sipping
barley and rye -
all night.

​

Fall In Love Now / Meir Ariel

Look, look at this flower
how it fared in love.
Like a king with a crown of male pollen
and a female’s moist stigma.

The flower...
Gives fragrance and is sent a bee,
who gets deep inside it.
Sucks its sweet nectar and flies away,
while the pollen sticks to the stigma.

Yes, the flower has full satisfaction
the potential will be realized.
It will also be a flower for jam and wine
and its nectar will be honey.

So -
open a button to the sweet light,
a window to the heart’s chambers.
It is now allowed, now allowed, allowed now
to open your heart...
For honey pours with citrus fragrance
and wine with the smell of nascent fruit
So it is now allowed, allowed, now allowed
to come together...
It is allowed, now allowed, now, allowed now
allowed, now allowed to fall in love.

Look, see the circles kissing -
breathtaking French.
The circle of fruit and the circle of honey,
have all the environment humming.

The story of a man name “someone”
who sneezed the whole day through
they told him: take a tissue
and he told them: it’s not an issue
What a man is he!

Open a button to the sweet light...

Indeed, we go back to the end of orange season
and start walking.
And daddy sweet has got it,
just what mommy sweet needs.

So -
open a button to the sweet light...