אחרי עשרים שנה [Acharai Esrim Shana] [English translation]

After twenty years

you are still playing

an old guitar

you still intend

from within the strings

the best song

that hasn't yet been written.

After twenty years

i'm not a child any longer

my youth ended

white hair spread out over the king

only you are still with me

with you i return again

to myself

Still with the same sound

still the same taste

stored like wine, fine wine

plays within me

a melody escapes

from within my fingers

go out into the street.

And the song again rises

and again until the end of my soul

the fruit of my longing

the days of pomegranate and vine

and the spirit within me still sings

the same string vibrates

twenty years.

Still with the same sound...

After twenty years

i had a dear friend

the Shir HaMa'alot1

did you listen

i'll sing to the day of my death

it will carry my prayer

the melody.

1. lit: song of going up to heaven. any of the 15 Psalms of David