הבלדה על יואל משה סלומון [Habalada al Yoel Moshe Salomon] [English translation]

On a humid morning in 56381

During the grape season

Five riders went

from Jaffa on horses.

Shtamper came and Guttmann came

And Zerach Barnet

And Yoel Moshe Salomon,2

With a sword in his sash.

And with them rode Mazaraki3

The silver haired doctor

Along the Yarkon,4

the wind sang in the bamboo reeds.

Beside 'Umlabess' 5 they stopped

In the heart of the swamps and thicket

And up a small hill they climbed

To see the surroundings.

Mazaraki said to them

After a short time:

“I don’t hear birds

And it’s a terrible sign.

If birds aren’t singing

Death rules here,

We should go out of here fast,

Here I go.”

The doctor jumped on his horse

For he pitied his health,

And the three friends turned

To return to the city with him.

Yoel Salomon then said

With his visionary eyes:

“I’m staying the night here

On this hill.”

And he remained on the hill

And between midnight and the light,

Suddenly, Salomon grew

The wings of a bird.

To where he flew, to where he flew

No one knows

Maybe it was only a dream

Maybe just a legend.

But when the morning arose again

Across the mountains

The cursed valley was filled

With chirping of birds.

And some say, until today

Along the Yarkon

The birds sing of Yoel

Moshe Salomon.

1. In the Hebrew calendar, 1878 in the Gregorian calendar2. Purchasers and founders of Petah Tikva: David Gutman, Yoel Moshe Salomon, Joshua Stampfer and Zerah Barnett,3. thought to be Dr. Karlemo Mazraki, a Greek doctor4. Yarkon River in Israel5. Petah Tikva

• Artist:Arik Einstein