Saturday, December 08, 2007

[Repost] Ma'oz Tzur and the Star Spangled Banner--the never-ending struggle to remember the second verse

Are you always embarrassed when they sing Maoz Tzur in public
because all you can remember is the first verse? I am.
Well, here is the second verse in transliteration courtesy of Wikipedia, which also provides the Hebrew text:
Ra'ot sav'ah nafshi, b'yagon kochi kilah. Chayai meireru b'koshi, b'shiabud malchut eglah. Uv'yado hagdolah hotzi et hasgulah. Cheil Par'oh vechol zar'oh yardu khe-even mtzulah.
Is it my imagination, or do you really need to cram syllables at the end? And while we're at it, here is the second verse of the Star-Spangled Banner, from the same source:
On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-spangled banner: oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Just gotta play air guitar to that one.

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