RETURN, RETURN: PRAYERS AT THE SOLDIERS’ GRAVE MT.HERZL

© January 22, 2009

By Michael Druck

Return, return! At night our light is burning.

Return, return! We watch and dream of a returning.

Who will bear witness?

The absent can return.

Return.

We the honored dead, with lengthening sadness,
spent the golden oil of gladness,
to feed the signal of return.

Return.

The day comes and east wind sings.

We move ever so slightly, and yearn.

When hope whispers its wings,
and the fire within us burns,
of a watchful return.

Return.

Like it or not, we pine
for the land of yours and of mine.

Our light forever will shine.

The Torah says what is thine.

Return, return.

We see the beacon of light
shining in day and in night.

And in it we pray and discern
for a path, of a holy return.

Return.

We pray at the flame in the air.

That sign of our hope and despair.

Hopefully reaching the eyes of the living;
understanding of a plight and misgiving.

What did we die for?

Return hapless people.

What of the legacy?

Warm yourself in the fire that burns;
that lingers and flickers for return.

Only G-d loves us.

Return.

And through the cedars and the cypress and the pine,
the wind moves and reminds,
that at Mt. Herzl, G-d and the dead, defines us.

Return.