Komm mit, o Schöne, komm mit mir zum Tanze; Tanzen gehöret zum festlichen Tag. Bist du mein Schatz nicht, so kannst du es werden,Wirst du es nimmer, so tanzen wir doch. Komm mit, o Schöne, komm mit mir zum Tanze; Tanzen gehöret zum festlichen Tag.

Come with me to the dance, o beauty; dancing is right for a festive day. You can become my sweetheart if you are not, but if you will never be, we can just dance. Come with me to the dance, o beauty; dancing glorifies a festive day.
 

Ohne dich, Liebste, was wären die Feste? Ohne dich, Süße, was wäre der Tanz? Wärst du mein Schatz nicht, so möcht ich nicht tanzen, Bleibst du es immer, ist Leben ein Fest. Ohne dich, Liebste, was wären die Feste?Ohne dich, Süße, was wäre der Tanz?

Without you, dearest, what would a festival be? Without you, my sweet, what would a dance be? If you were not my sweetheart, I would not want to dance. If you stay my sweetheart forever, life will be a celebration. Without you, dearest, what would a festival be? Without you, my sweet, what would a dance be?
 

Laß sie nur lieben, und laß du uns tanzen! Schmachtende Liebe vermeidet den Tanz. Schlingen wir fröhlich den drehenden Reihen, Schleichen die andern zum dämmernden Wald. Laß sie nur lieben, und laß du uns tanzen! Schmachtende Liebe Vermeidet den Tanz.

Let them love, but let us dance! Languishing love shuns the dance. Let us merrily weave about in spinning rows, and let the others creep off into the twilit wood. Let them love, but let us dance! Languishing love shuns the dance.
 

Laß sie sich drehen, und laß du uns wandeln! Wandeln der Liebe ist himmlischer Tanz. Amor, der nahe, der höret sie spotten, Rächet sich einmal, und rächet sich bald. Laß sie sich drehen, und laß du uns wandeln! Wandeln der Liebe ist himmlischer Tanz.

Let them twirl, and let us wander! Wandering in love is a heavenly dance. Cupid is nearby and hears this mockery; he will have revenge someday - and soon! Let them twirl, and let us wander! Wandering in love is a heavenly dance.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy place where God dwells.

Psalm 46:4

Hineh ma tov uma na-im Shevet achim gam yachad. (How good and pleasant it is when God's people live in peace together.)

Psalm 133:1

It was Raven who created the world.
One day Raven was out on the water in his kayak, when he saw what he thought was an island.

He rowed up to it and tried to land his kayak,
but a huge mouth opened up and swallowed him. It was not an island at all, but an enormous whale!

As he went down the whale’s throat, Raven thought he would die, but instead he saw the whale’s ribs around him like ivory columns. In the distance he could hear a sound,
as if someone was banging on a drum.
In the distance he could see a light, a mysterious light.

Raven followed the light and went further inside the Whale,
where he came to a strange little house.
He peered in through the window, then knocked on the door and went inside.

He came into a small room, and there in the corner sat
the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
“Won’t you marry me and come out into the World with me?”
“I do not belong in the World just as you do not belong inside the Whale, but you can stay and keep me company for a while if you like.
However I must warn you never to touch my drum, my lamp.” The girl stood up and started to dance.

When she danced quickly, the Whale soared through the ocean. When she danced slowly the whale rested gently near the surface. The girl then stopped dancing and walked straight out of the door.

“Where are you going?”
“It’s not important, just a matter of breath and life.” “Who are you and why do you live inside the Whale?”
“I am the Whale’s soul and my drum is the Whale’s heart. My lamp must never go out or I will die,
and there will be nobody to beat my drum.
I sing and dance all day and night and never grow tired.”

But when the girl next left the room, Raven did something dreadful. He ignored what the girl had said to him. He touched the lamp. Raven burnt himself on the lamp, and dropped it on the floor.
It hit the floor, the flame went out.
The girl fell in through the door and dropped down dead; the house collapsed and became a pile of dead whale bones. Raven suddenly was all alone inside a mess of blood and fat.

Raven clambered back up the Whale’s throat,
up through its blowhole, up onto the top of its dead body. Raven flew higher and higher and higher far from the sea.

He flew to the earth and sat at the whale’s side,
and there he wept the first tears the world had ever known.

I. THRENODY
When death takes off the mask, [we] will know one another, though diverse liveries [we] wear here make [us] strangers.

William Penn (1644 - 1718),
from 'Some Fruits of Solitude In Reflections And Maxims' (1682)

Tremblest thou when my face appears, To thee? Wherefore thy dreadful fears?
Be easy, friend; 'tis thy truest gain. To be far away from the sons of men.
I offer a couch to give thee ease: Shall dreamless slumber so much displease?

Muhammad Rajab Al-Bayoumi (dates unknown), from 'Death Speaks',
translated by Arthur J. Arberry (1950)

To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake (1757 - 1827), from 'Auguries of Innocence' (1808)

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for [people] to dwell together in unity.

Psalm 133, from The Bible (King James Version, 1611)