I Promise You My Little Girl

I promise you, my little girl, that this will be the last war.

Fifty years later, and the battle drags on in an uproar.

-----

One of the trees that fell asleep, before it burned in my head,

Continued to bleed, even when I felt it near me in bed.

-----

The cat, that I never really had, except in memories

Of my childhood, hiding, wet, from roaches under draperies.

-----

Don’t touch the foreign package, as it can explode and kill you,

Was a saying and a sentence, to avoiding falling through.

-----

The Six-Day War was much longer, when I understood the call

Heard all around the world, to kill every Jew till their downfall.

-----

War after war and murder after murder, I heard the words,

Forgive but never forget, and never again, for the birds.

-----

I never liked Black Sabbath, preferring The Wall and Pink Floyd,

That is until Roger Waters turned out to be heart-devoid.

-----

Sabbath was even blacker than deep space where photons scuttle

At the speed of light until they hit a long ago gone shtetl.

-----

Thou shalt not kill only made it to number six. What a God!

He seized the first four commandments, and the fifth got a ramrod.

-----

I promise you, my old girl, that this will be the last conflict.

Enough with the lies, my dying father, as I’m fully pricked!

-----

* A mantinada typically consists of a Cretan 15-syllable rhyming couplet. Mantinades is the plural.

-----

Motty Fleischer - The Last War (I Promise You)

Translated from Hebrew

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

-----

In the name of all the tank crews and their dusty faces

That passed through all the fire and destruction.

In the name of the sailors who spread their nets on the ports

With their eyes weighed down with salt and waves.

-----

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

-----

In the name of the pilots who broke into furious battle

And were consumed by missile and fire, Nun-Mem*

In the name of the paratroopers amidst dust and smoke

They saw you, like an angel above their heads.

-----

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

-----

In the name of the artillerymen who in the crashed shells

Were a pillar of fire along the front.

In the name of medics, doctors, who with their soul and blush

Restored breath and life, replenished blood.

-----

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

-----

In the name of the radio operators whose voices tore through the nights.

In the name of all the recruits and forces.

In the name of all the fathers who went to a terrible battle

And longed to return to you again.

-----

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

I promise you, my little girl

That this will be the last war.

-----

* An anti-plane missile.