Words by Y. L. Peretz (1852-1915) with music by Mikhl Gelbart (1889-1966). Published in Mir zingen, 1951. The poem is one of a cycle of children’s poems that Peretz wrote for orphans in Warsaw after World War I. The song was sung in the Yiddish schools in Europe and this country. According to Israeli musicologist Issachar Fater, the poem was set to music by composers Eliyohu Hirshin, Lazar Weiner, Bernardo Feuer, Bluma Mushkes-Saubel, in addition to Moses Milner and Joel Engel. Saul Beresovsky also arranged an anonymous tune for the chorus.
In the meadow stands a little tree
it has green branches;
A little bird is sitting on it
closing its little eyes.
On the little green branches
there grows a golden apple.
Close your dear little eyes, my child,
a blessing on your head.
On the green branches
the birds are already asleep,
their mother is singing to them: ah – ah – ah…
It is a quiet night, ah – ah….
Shteyt in feld a beymele,
Hot es grine tsvaygelekh;
Zitst deroyf a feygele,
Makht es tsu di eygelekh.
Oyf di grine tsvaygelekh,
Vakst a goldn epele,
Makh tsu, mayn kind, di eygelekh,
A brokhe oyf dayn kepele.
Oyf di grine tsvaygelekh,
Shlofn shoyn di feygelekh,
Di mame zingt zey: a – a – a. . .
Es iz a shtile nakht, a – a. . .
,שטײט אין פֿעלד אַ בײמעלע,
האָט עס גרינע צװײַגעלעך;
זיצט דערױף אַ פֿײגעלע,
מאַכט עס צו די אײגעלעך.
אױף די גרינע צװײַגעלעך,
װאַקסט אַ גאָלדן עפּעלע,
מאַך צו, מײַן קינד, די אײגעלעך,
אַ ברכה אױף דײַן קעפּעלע.
אױף די גרינע צװײַגעלעך,
שלאָפֿן שױן די פֿײיגעלעך,
די מאַמע זינגט זײ: אַ-אַ-אַ. . .
עס איז א שטילע נאכט, א-אַ. . .
Song Title: Shteyt In Feld A Beymele
The Songs of Generations: New Pearls of Yiddish Song anthology comprises songs that were either never printed before or appeared in rare and inaccessible publications — sometimes in different versions and without proper sources. Most of the songs in this book were submitted by readers of Chana and Yosl’s column “Perl fun der yidisher poezye” (Pearls of Yiddish Poetry) in the Yiddish newspaper Der Forverts (The Forward), initiated in October, 1970. Over 25 years, thousands of songs were collected in correspondence and on cassettes from readers throughout the world, and they represent a veritable national Yiddish song archive. Chana Mlotek, in her introduction, writes, “In the course of years the inquiries, contributions and enthusiasm of these readers have kept our own interest unflagging and have reinforced our dedication to this effort. And in recent years our participants have also been augmented by new readers from the former Soviet Russia, who receive our newspaper there or from newly-arrived immigrants in this country and Israel.”
