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Afafonim

Kites

by Shlomo Artzi

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shenat yetzia: 1979
Release year: 1979
afifonim hofchu pitom limtosim shel shir.
Kites suddenly turned into airplanes of song.
hayeled meabed chalom.
The child loses a dream.
hagever mishehi,
The man loses someone,
haanashim mima hem anashim?
What do people lose of being people?
afilu sheat sham, ani rotze otach karov, keilu lidey,
Even though you're there, I want you close, as if beside me,
umashehu shesheret, ani nizkar, uva li shir.
And something you sang, I remember, and a song comes to me.
ani holech beyn habatim -
I walk between the houses —
machol iti.
A slow dance.
achar kach mityashev lizkor
Afterward I sit down to remember
et yalduti, aval matos afor
My childhood, but a gray airplane
marish et kol hamachshavot.
Deafens all the thoughts.
at sham, az eych uchal lavo?
You're there, so how can I come?
maflig bametosim nogea aratzot,
Sailing on airplanes, touching lands,
milim zarot.
Foreign words.
hashemesh bakisim,
The sun in pockets,
shetazkir li meeyfo.
To remind me from where.
tamid nosim al gabey haafifon.
They always travel on the back of a kite.
ulay al gav haafifon avo kedey lomar lecha et hashir,
Maybe on the kite's back I'll come to tell you the song,
aval eyn chut lischov,
But there's no thread to pull,
eyn rucha bashechakim.
No wind in the skies.
hayeled shuv boche,
The child is weeping again,
hagever lo mechakim.
The man is not getting wiser.
afifonim baim, afifonim holchim.
Kites come, kites go.
hayeled shehayiti, hagever sheani.
The child I was, the man I am.
ulay gam at, af paam lo hayit.
Maybe even you, were never really there.
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