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senir mitnadned al hakise, hamabat shelo takua li bakatef,
Shnir sways in his chair, his gaze fixed at my shoulder,
mimataey hatapuchim shel g zin horchoka ole reycha shel perichot, reycha shel keyf,
From the apple groves of distant Jezzine rises a scent of blossoms, a scent of pleasure,
sheney naylonim chovtim ze baze al gidrot hatayil,
Two plastic bags beat against each other on the barbed wire fences,
kashe letaer techusha kazot, min pachad baeynayim.
Hard to describe such a feeling, a kind of fear in the eyes.
al giva rechoka bamizrach menatznetzim orot batim ketanim,
On a distant hill in the east, lights of small houses glisten,
tzeror iti shel maklea rachok over pitom derech haetzim, derech haavanim,
A slow burst from a distant machine gun passes suddenly through the trees, through the stones,
"od meat nachatof" omer senir "mehaoyev halo nire,
"We're about to get hit" Shnir says "from the invisible enemy,
od meat nahafoch leshir, od meat ulay kevar lo nihye".
We're about to become a song, we might already cease to be".
ki kashe lehamchish et hayedia shebechal rega mishehu yachol lavo ad eleynu velachzabel
For it's hard to grasp the knowledge that at any moment someone can come up to us and slit
lanu et hageronot hachasufim shelanu, ho laazazel
Our exposed throats, oh for God's sake
"yorim aleynu" shenir omer beintonatzya shel adish,
"They're shooting at us" Shnir says with the intonation of the indifferent,
shenir rak ben esrim umashehu,
Shnir is just twenty-something,
"yorim aleynu mikiuun hakevish, mikiuun hakefar, mikiuun hair,
"They're shooting at us from the direction of the road, from the direction of the village, from the direction of the city,
mikiuun kochot haom kultum"
From the direction of the forces of Om Kulthoum"
"tashiv esh" omrim kulam vehu yore umabit lechiuun hatzeror hamitrachek baarafel
"Return fire" everyone says and he shoots and looks toward the burst disappearing in the mist
veachar kach mityashev al hakise shel haolam, ho laazazel
And then settles back in the chair of the world, oh for God's sake
ki kashe...
For it's hard...
vechacha beoto layla yorim mikol hakiuunim, veesh mitarbevet betoch esh,
And so on that same night they shoot from all directions, and fire mixes with fire,
vechacha beoto layla shir shel ahava, shel echad shebetach hityaesh,
And so on that same night a love song, from someone who surely despaired,
vechacha beoto layla, shenir margish kemo zona betoch arafel,
And so on that same night, Shnir feels like a whore inside the fog,
vechacha beoto layla, ad hitkanesut hakochavim, ad or rishon, ad ho laazazel...
And so on that same night, until the gathering of stars, until first light, until oh for God's sake...
senir ushney milumnikim merushalim mitnadnedim al hakisot hamerupatim,
Shnir and two scruffy twenty-something soldiers sway in their worn-out chairs,
layla bilvanon 1998...
A night in Lebanon 1998...
veze kimat kol hasipur,
And that's almost the whole story,
rak shelemachorat bidia ketzara baiton shel haboker nitakel:
Only the next morning in a brief news item in the morning paper we'll encounter:
esh norta al kochoteynu midarom lega'zin vechochoteynu heshivu esh
Fire was directed at our forces south of Jezzine and our forces returned fire
ho laazazel...
Oh for God's sake...
ho laazazel, ho laazazel, ho laazazel..
Oh for God's sake, oh for God's sake, oh for God's sake..
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