Ani Maamin
The following text is excerpted from "Ani Maamin," a poem by Elie Wiesel set to music by Darius Milhaud, which had its premier at Carnegie Hall on November 13, 1973
A camp.
An inmate.
A creature without a name,
A man without a face,
Without a destiny.
It is night,
The first night of Passover.
The camp is asleep,
He alone is awake.
He talks to himself,
Soundlessly.
I hear his words,
I capture his silence.
To himself, to me,
He is saying:
I have not partaken of matzot,
Nor of maror.
I have not emptied the four cups,
Symbols of the four deliverances.
I did not invite the hungry
To share my repast--
Or even my hunger.
No longer have I a son
To ask me The four questions--
No longer do I have the strength
To answer...
The parable of Chad Gadya is misleading:
God will not come
To slay the slaughterer.
The innocent victims
Will go unavenged.
The ancient wish--
Leshana habra bi-Yerushalaim--
Will not be granted.
I shall not be in Jerusalem next year.
Or anywhere else.
Next year
I shall not be.
And then,
How do I know
That Jerusalem is there,
Far away,
That Jerusalem is not here?
Still, I recite the Haggadah
As though I believe in it.
And I await the prophet Elijah,
As I did long ago.
I open my heart to him
And say:
Welcome, prophet of the promise,
Welcome, herald of redemption.
Come, share in my story,
Come, rejoice with the dead
That we are.
Empty the cup
That bears your name.
Come to us,
Come to us on this Passover night:
We are in Egypt
And we are the ones
To suffer God's plagues.
Come, friend of the poor,
Defender of the oppressed,
Come.
I shall wait for you.
And even if you disappoint me
I shall go on waiting,
Ani Maamin.
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