Evening’s roses: erev shel shoshanim
Another upcoming wedding, another song. Erev shel shoshanim is a classic. Unfortunately, the first few results for translations of its lyrics are far too literal1 and hardly able to be sung to its beautiful tune.
The original song also approximately rhymes the 2nd and 4th line of each of its three stanzas, which none of those translations do. So here is my go at a singable translation of Erev Shel Shoshanim:
|
Evening of roses Slowly the nighttime falls At dawn, a cooing dove |
Erev shel shoshanim Layla yored le’at Shachar homa yona |
ערב של שושנים לילה יורד לאט שחר הומה יונה |
Notes:
- Although most insist that shoshanim are roses, when the word often means lilies. [↩]