I sit here
at the waters of Babylon.
My back hunched.
My head between my knees.
The waters lap at my feet
beckoning me to join them.
To run away.
I try to cry
yet cannot.
The well of tears
behind my eyes
has dried out.
There are none left to shed.
My home
my beautiful, magnificent
home
is in shambles.
And I sit here.
Chained.
Bedraggled.
Without a voice.
From behind me
I hear footsteps.
We need some entertainment
to help us
forget
what is going on around us.
Sing for us!
Sing?
Sing what?
Sing what?
A song that you always sang.
One from your home.
But how can I sing
my song
in a strange land?
Sing, you insolent fool!
Sing!
But my voice is gone.
I don't even open
my lips
to even try to sing.
How can I sing
amongst desolation?
How can I sing my song,
our song,
for those who have taken
song away?
No, I shall not sing.
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its strength.
18 comments:
wow. good stuff.
wow, touching, beautiful, very nice on AAL NAHAROS Bovel...
btw, have u been to the ply called by that name, or watched it?
t'was very well don
Beautiful. Thank you.
That was really nice..
May we be zoche to sing again soon..
very pretty.
as you know my grandfather passed away on Friday. At the first levaya my cousin got up to make a hesped and he was saying that earlier on in the week he was sitting with my zeidy singing al naharos bavel, yet my grandfather was happy. they discussed the meaning of the song, and my grandfather found the good in the situation (like rabbi akiva and the foxes).
anyhow, that was last night. i came home and read this, and it went straight to my heart.
thanks for the beautiful peom.
A well written take on Al naros bovel. The pictue though is amazing and captures the feeling and mood, the phrase 'a picture is worth 1000 words' really applies here. May we all be zoiche to the coming of Mashiach in our days.
I'm not kidding, I might just print this out and read it over and over again on Tisha b'Av. It's really, really powerful, and it captures the emotions in the kapitel really well.
anono - thanx.
nuch - no, never been. where was it?
rebecca - welcome! you're welx.
david - amen.
chaya - hamakom yinachem eschem...
that's beautiful... may we only share in simchos...
smile - i love the pic, too
scraps - i'm glad to be of service...
Where'd you get the nice pic?
basmelech - is that all you have to say?
same as always - google images
May we sing again soon
Very beautiful writing have a meaningful fast.
Bavel is mostly a metafore nowadays for lotsa 'bavels' that seem to crowd up our life.
You have a tremendous gift of expressing yourself through writing. Just keep using it for the good and to inspire people!
lvnsm27 - amen.
swfm - you too.
yingerman - yeah, i know... too many bavels..
halfshared - thank you. i'll try. :)
I'm just letting you know that this has left me speechless...
In a good way.
jewmaican - thank you.
Yeah, sweetie. No offense, I love your writing, but I've read the original by King David.
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