Birdsong

The GYS Chamber Choir

Saturday night I attended a concert for the Guelph Youth Singers. Now, anyone who knew me during grade 6-12 (and probably many of you who met me after I graduated) likely knows that I was a member of Guelph Youth Singers for about 7 years. One of my sisters is also an alumni of GYS, the youngest is still a member, and my mom has also been very involved. I just wanted to share one song that was sung on Saturday that is among my favourites, particularly because of how it was written.

Birdsong uses lyrics written by children living in the Terezin concentration camp. Very few of the children who went to Terezin survived the war, but listening to the lyrics of Birdsong it is hard not to be amazed by these children and how they were able to see such beauty and life in a place filled with death.

Birdsong

He doesn't know the world at all
Who stays in his nest and doesn't go out.
He doesn't know what birds know best
Nor what I want to sing about,
That the world is full of loveliness.

 When dewdrops 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 live.

 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.