If I do not hail
From the lands of the living
Why eternal life
Craves my soul?

Had I not been extracted
From the hills of undeath
Why in the valley of the ephemeral
Do I as a stranger traverse?

Had I not been quarried
From eternity's rock
Why against my mortality
Does my spirit rebel
The decree of my end
Do I daily defy?

Why not
As a withered bloom
As a beast of field
Whose time has come
Meek and tranquil
Do I bow my head
And cease?

From the Hebrew by Yanki Tauber, originally published by www.chabad.org.

Click here for the Hebrew Original - המקור בעברית

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