For your information; the video below is sung in Yiddish, with English and French subtitles.

 

In forty-eight, I came into this world,

whose peace, they say, was won at cost immense:

I’m told that I should genuflect and bow,

to those who worship those old gods of war,

yes, I should heed the Christian warriors’ words,

who preach from pulpit and from podium,

and show respect to them, the “great and good”,

who led us there, and hence to this bright age,

when nothing’s learned from history’s bloodstained page.

 

In joy, then pain, two lovers gave me life,

life cherished then, saved by our NHS:

then, “welfare please, not warfare!” was our cry,

then, health and housing fit for humankind

were once, the source of Britain’s pride and joy,

then, Bread and Roses was a hopeful song

that raised the rafters of our civic halls.

But now; who dies? big money must decide,

whilst quiet cowards enable genocide.

Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh 22nd April 2025