ירושלים של זהב [Yerushalayim shel zahav] [English translation]

The mountain air is clear as wine

And the scent of pines

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 of 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 ram’s horn (shofar) calls out

(i.e. is being heard) 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 of 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.e. to tell your praise)

I am the smallest of the youngest

of your children (i.e. the least worthy of doing so)

And of the last poet (i.e. of all the poets born).

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 of light

Behold I am a violin for all your songs.