The Silver Platter

Nathan Alterman

So the land grows still. Red fades in the sky
Over smoking frontiers in Israel.
Heartsick but breathing, the people greet
The wonder that has no parallel.

Beneath the moon, they stand and wait,
Facing the dawn in awe and joy;
Then slowly towards the waiting throng
Two step forth - a girl and a boy.

Clad for work and for war, heavy shod and still,
Up the winding path they make their way,
Their clothes unchanged, still soiled with the grime
Of the battle-filled night and the toilsome day.

Weary past telling, strangers to sleep,
But wearing their youth like dew in their hair,
Dumb they approach. - Are they living or dead?
Who knows, as they stand unmoving there.

Tear-stained, wondering, the people ask,
"Who are you?" - softly reply the two,
"We are the silver platter, on which
The Jewish State is handed you!"

In shadow they fall when their tale is told -
The rest let Israel’s story unfold.

The day which precedes Independence Day in Israel is Memorial Day. The premature death of all soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces, in addition to the death of those who fought in the Jewish Brigade and in the pre-State underground movements prepared the ground, as it were, for the State and its independence. As the poet metaphorically put it, they were the silver platter on which the Jewish State was handed to the Jewish people.

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