Now you who gather joyfully beneath the festive lights and warm each other soulfully with all of your delight Take not too much comfort in this song
For what you choose to elevate from what was cast below Is but the tidal whimsy of the seas you do not know & may well turn asunder before long
A beauteous sound, a diamond I have found, A diamond I have found beneath the snow Buried in the ground, ‘neath a ruddy mound ‘Neath a ruddy where nothing grows
The guests are almost ready for the dancing to begin They’ve come to toast the wedding between Zion & Berlin So raise a glass up to the bride & groom
But don’t confuse the Deutsch & Yiddish, nor the night & day & if a Kaddish sounds like Kiddush, bow your head & pray We never step upon the glass too soon
A shayn gesang, an oytser far a klang, An oytser far a klang, vi fun a khupe Tsespaltn fun a shverd, bagrobn tif in drerd unter der kupe
So weigh your fortune carefully when prophesy reveals That decadence & revelry can undermine your zeal & turn the prophesy upon its ear For in the dying embers of a century of blood Is all we must remember to avoid the coming flood Of prophesies we all refuse to hear
For singing broken melodies to songs in broken tongues Cannot erase the memory of bells already rung Nor can it unring the bells we hear
So free the broken birds unto their painted colored wings & let the broken words be burned unto the songs we sing Till every note is new unto our ears