The tale of the battle at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai is told in the song; for the tale of the man after whom the kibbutz was named, and his even more remarkable story, click here.
They came in the
night
and they came in the day
Their number was a
thousand
times forty
times forty
And wild was their
hope
and loud was their claim
Of driving us into
the water
They followed the
road
to the mountain of spring
And no one but we
to prevent them
And their tanks
they gleamed white
in the bright desert night
Like the eyes of
the men who had sent them
They skirted us
round till the circle was set
And their guns
were aloft on the high ground
And we in the
centre like flies in a net
And not enough
food for a fortnight
Ah but stand now
with pride and stand to your post
And fight till
there is no more fighting
Better die upright
than live on your knees
And best of all
outlive the dying
Well the barbed
wire fence and the roof of the trench
Were the marks of
our home and our prison
And we barely
fifty and they a full host
And fear in the
eyes of the children
Their barrels were
full their barrels were locked
Their eyes fixed
upon the horizon
And their flag it
was raised on the white desert rocks
Where the sun of
the day it was rising
Not a scorpion
lurked in such white burning heat
Not a snake dared
to brave the sun's fury
And the desert was
lost in a battle of dust
Only sun could be
covered in glory
Ah but stand now
with pride and stand to the peace
And fight till
there is no more fighting
Better die upright
than eating the dust
And best of all
outlive the dying
Well the black
sullen eve it grew heavy with sounds
Of a woman
lamenting and crying
In the dead humid
night we took care of our wounds
On the wind you
could taste your own dying
The sun turned to
gold and the earth turned to dust
The stones of the
field they were bloody
And somehow we
held and only three fell
While they were
piled body on body
But the siege it
was set though each round we met
With round after
round of refusal
And their guns
bellowed out like a sad silent song
And their dreams
slowly shrank to illusions
Ah but stand now
with pride and stand to the end
And fight till
there is no more fighting
Better die killing
than killed on the sand
And best of all
outlive the dying
Then a sound from
the north split the cold desert dawn
After almost six
days on the mountain
And the enemy
turned the enemy ran
And all of our
chains they were broken
From the dead
salty sea to the dry desert sand
Our numbers
replenished twice daily
And our tanks were
drawn in and our guns tore the strand
But the barrels of
their guns smoked empty
So the darkness
drew back and the night fell to dust
In the wake of the
sun's burning whiteness
And the wind it
was hushed where their dream it lay crushed
And the desert
retreated to silence
Ah we stood with
our pride and we stood with our guns
And we fought till
there was no more fighting
And the wind took
our song and the sun made it strong
And we stood till
we outlived the dying
They came in the night
and they fled in the day
Their number was a
thousand times forty
And wild was their
hope and foolish their aim
Of driving us into
the water
(They'll never
drive us into the water)
You can find David Prashker at:
If
you would like to include "The Ballad of Yad Mordechai" in your repertoire,
either for paid public performance or to record for commercial
purposes, or if you would like to re-use the recordings attached to this
blog-page for commercial purposes, contact
argaman@theargamanpress.com.
Use of this song, and/or these recordings, for
non-commercial purposes, is not simply permitted but invited.
Words and music by David Prashker
Copyright © 2014 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
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