Yerushalayim Shel Zahav

Jerusalem of gold

The mountain air is clear as wine
And the scent of pine trees
Is carried on the breeze of twilight
With the sound of bells

And in the slumber of tree and stone
Captured in her dream
The city that sits solitary
And in its midst is a wall

Jerusalem of gold
And of bronze and light
Behold I am a violin for all your songs

We have returned to the cisterns
To the market and to the market-place
A shofar calls out on the Temple Mount
In the Old City

And in the caves in the mountain
Thousands of suns shine
We will once again descend to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho

Jerusalem of gold
And of bronze and light
Behold I am a violin for all your songs

But as I come to sing to you today
And to adorn crowns to you
I am the smallest of the youngest of your children
And of the last poet

For your name scorches the lips
Like the kiss of a seraph
If I forget thee, Jerusalem
Which is all gold

Jerusalem of gold
And of bronze and light
Behold I am a violin for all your songs