Page 25 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - September 15

Down on the poultry farm. And perhaps as we sang we would drift as in dream

Him on his tractor with harrows behind To where Jordan debouches and sallies.
And his mangold-wurzeling ways; ***

Her who thought hardship was good for the soul, Then London gave word and they started to leave,
But had a soft spot for life's waifs and strays. By their twos and their threes and alone,
Where has She gone? and He? I was ready to grieve,
There was him with his music (speaking of souls), Surely, soon all my friends will be gone!

Who over the records presided.
Now shall it be Liszt? Rimsky-Korsakov? Brahms? But then it was my turn to pack up and go,

And he'd fondle his beard, undecided. Yes, a pioneer I, fully fledged!
So I boarded the ship and I came to the Land,
Then tenderly grooving the needle For that's where my future was pledged.
He'd summon us Scheherezade,

And lo! from her thousand and one nights she'd come, Well Sussex and all that are far away now,
Regaling us just as he bade. We came and became and we are what we are.

And that is the tale that I promised to tell,
Or it might be some evening we'd gather and sing The tale of my aliya
Songs of Zion, her vineyards and valleys.

David Eder Farm, once upon a time

25