Zog nit keyn mol text Hirsh Glik set to a melody by Dmitri and Daniel Pokras
Partisan and poet Shmerke Kascerginski tells how this song was inspired by the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, as quoted by Ruth Rubin in Voices of a People, The Story of Yiddish Folk Song:
The news of the uprising lifted our spirits and made us proud…our hearts became winged…Hirshke began to sing it softly, but full of excitement…Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho…The hour we yearn for will come… His voice became firmer. He tapped out the rhythm with his foot, as if he were marching…The partisan staff in the Vilna Ghetto decided that the song should become the hymn of its fighters. But the people did not wait for this decision, and the song had already spread to the ghettos, the concentration and labor camps, and into the woods to other partisan brigades.
Zog nit keyn mol az du geyst dem letstn veg Never say that you are walking the last road
Khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg Although leaden skies hide days of blue
Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho Our longed for hour will arrive
S’vet a poyk ton undzer trot — mir zaynen do Our steps make a drumbeat — we are here
Kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho
S’vet a poyk ton undzer trot — mir zaynen do
Fun grinem palmen-land From the land of green palms
Biz vaysn land fun shney To the white land of snow
Mir kumen on mit undzer payn, mit undzer vey We come onward with our pain, with our woe
Un vu gefaln s’iz a shprits fun undzer blut And where a splash of our blood falls
Shprotsn vet dort undzer gvure, undzer mut There will sprout our strength, our courage
Un vu gefaln s’iz a shprits fun undzer blut
Shprotsn vet dort undzer gvure, undzer mut
S’vet di morgn-zun bagildn undz dem haynt The morning sun lights up today like gold
Un der nekhtn vet farshvindn mitn faynt And yesterday disappears with our hated enemies
Nor oyb farzamen vet di zun in dem kayor And if the sun is delayed in this dawn
Vi a parol zol geyn dos lid Like a watchword (or fight song) this song must go
Fun dor tsu dor From generation to generation
Nor oyb far-zamen vet di zun in dem kayor
Vi a parol zol geyn dos lid fun dor tsu dor
Dos lid geshribn iz mit blut un nit mit blay This song is written with blood and not with lead
S’iz nit keyn lidl fun a foygl oyf der fray It’s not a little song from a little bird flying free
Dos hot a folk tsvishn falndike vent A people, between falling walls,
Dos lid gezungen mit naganes in di hent Sang this song with rifles in their hands
Dos hot a folk tsvishn faln-dike vent
Dos lid ge-zungen mit naganes in di hent
To zog nit keyn mol az du geyst dem letstn veg So never say that you are walking the last road
Khotsh himlen blayene far-shteln bloye teg
Kumen vet nokh undzer oys-ge-benkte sho
S’vet a poyk ton undzer trot — mir zaynen do
Kumen vet nokh undzer oys-ge-benkte sho
S’vet a poyk ton undzer trot — mir zaynen do We are here
Internet tidbit: “The Pokras brothers later revealed that they had based their socialist marching song on the old Yiddish tune Oyfn Pripetchik.” h2g2.com