Birdsong from I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Radix Women's Vocal Ensemble
Words Are For the Birds: Songs Without Words, and Songs About Birds
Eliot Chapel, First Unitarian Church - Portland, OR
December 9, 2023
Radix Vocal Ensemble: Helen Allen, JD Carter, Naama Friedman, Emily Gimba, Keely Gvakharia, Iris Mairead, Mhari Scott, Mila Trank-Greene, Devon Webster & Quinlyn Wright
Amy Stuart Hunn, director
Paul Flyger, piano
"Birdsong" from I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Music by Charles Davidson (1929-2023)
Lyrics by anonymous child prisoner in the Terezin Concentration Camp
He doesn't know the world at all who stays in his nest and doesn't go out.
He doesn't know what the birds know best nor what I want to sing about,
That the world is full of lovliness.
When dew drops sparkle in the grass, and Earth's aflood with morning light,
A blackbird sings upon a bush to greet the dawning after night.
Then I know how fine it is to be alive.
Hey, try to open up your heart to beauty,
Go to the woods someday and weave a wreath of memory there.
Then if tears obscure your way, you'll know how wonderful it is to be alive.
Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai elohenu, Adonai echad.
(Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.)