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BAB EL WAD
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BAB EL WAD |
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| Po ani over, nitzav li ad ha even. Kvish asfalt shachor, slayim urechasim. Erev at yored, ruach yam noshevet, Or kochav rishon mever Beit Maschir. Bab-el-wad, Lanetzach z chor na et sh moteinu, Shayarot partzu baderech el ha ir. Betzidei haderech mutalim meteinu, Sheled habarzel shotek kmo re i. Po shatzfu bashemesh zefet ve oferet, Po avru leylot be esh vesakinim, Po shochnim beyachad etzev vetiferet, Meshurian charuch veshem shel almoni. Bab-el-wad Va ani holech, over kan cheresh, cheresh, Va ani zocher otam, echad, echad, Kan lachamnu yachad, al tzukim veteresh, Kan hayinu yachad mishpacha achat. Bab-el-wad Yom aviv yavo, rakafot tifrachna, Odem kalanit ba ar ubamorad. Ze, asher yilech baderech shealachnu, Al ishkach otanu, otanu, Bab-el-wad. |
Here I am passing, standing by the stone. An asphalt road, rocks and ridges. Day goes down slowly, sea-wind blows Light of a first star, over Beit Maschir. Bab-el-wad, Do remember our names forever, Convoys broke through, on the way to the City. Our deads lay on the road edges. The iron skeleton is silent like my comrade. Here pitch and lead fumed under the sun, Here nights passed with fire and knives. Here sorrow and glory live together With a burnt armoured car and the name of an unknown. Bab-el-wad And I walk, passing here silently, And I remember them, one by one. Here we fought together on cliffs and boulders Here we were one family. Bab-el-wad A spring day will come, the cyclamens will bloom, Red of anemone on the mountain and on the slope. He, who will go on the road we went, He will not forget us, Bab-el-wad. |
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| Translator's note: |
| Bab-el-Wad (in Arabic: The Valley Gate - wadi is more properly a narrow valley or a gorge). |
| It is the place, on the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, 23 km before the capital city, where the road starts to climb. The road enters into a gorge, an obligatory passage, between cliffs. During the War of Independence in 1948 Jerusalem was besieged and separated from the rest of the new State of Israel. Until the Burma Road bypass was found, the only way to bring food supplies to the besieged city was to force the blockade by means of armoured cars, many of which were destroyed by fighting at Bab-el-Wad. The burnt armoured cars that couldn't make it through to Jerusalem still lay on the roadside. |
| LYRICS | Chayim Guri |
| MUSIC | Shmuel Farshko |
| SINGER | Yaffa Yarkoni, Shoshana Damari, and others |
| CD | From Then Till Now Track 3 |
| Transliteration, translation and singable Italian translation by Daniel Shalev of Rishon Le Zion, Israel |
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| Singable Italian translation |
BAB-EL-WAD |
Oggi son tornato solo qui a passare
ricorda i nomi di quei prodi. I convogli andavan verso la Città. Là, sul ciglio, ancora giacciono i caduti e lo scheletro di ferro muto sta. Bab-el-Wad, ricorda i nomi di quei prodi. Bab-el-Wad, la via per la Città.
Piombo sotto il sole, pece ribbollente. Ferro e fuoco. Notte. Tempo di morir. Stan tristezza e gloria strette intimamente. Su quei carri arsi nomi a non finir...
Bab-el-Wad...
Passo, camminando silenziosamente, un per uno adesso li ricordo ancor. Tra le rupi a piombo combattemmo insieme, come una famiglia eravamo allor.
Bab-el-Wad...
Tu che passerai tra le rupi in fiore, rosse come il sangue, verso la Città, portale il ricordo, che giammai non muore, di chi cadde in nome della libertà. |