Let Freedom Ring
Commissioned by Brooklyn Youth Chorus
Duration: 4m10s
Music: Shara Nova
Text: Shara Nova
Available versions:
SATB choir (with divisi) and percussion
PROGRAM NOTE:
In memory of Alton Sterling. May we hold to the vision set by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that freedom ring throughout this country for all people. I am continually inspired by his "I Have A Dream" speech where he said, "This is our hope... With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
The lyrics are also inspired by the ideals encapsulated by "The New Colossus," a poem Emma Lazarus engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift up my lamp beside the golden door!"
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LYRICS:
Brother gone to air, now I to stone,
Pillow broke beneath my troubled pose,
Sleep does not spare me from the outside,
Light force your way to my eye,
Fear, you are contagious,
Can one speak with words of love?
Can one speak with words of peace?
Can one name justice king?
Justice is our king.
I could fall toward the masses when I see the vile
deeds,
Against what Nature has decreed,
Sun, shine on all! Rain, fall on all!
Earth, give us space to be Air,
give me breath to be.
Air, air,
Let freedom ring.
Have you seen the lady?
She said she spoke for us,
Standing, copper-tarnished, reminding us all;
Give me the tired, give me the poor,
Give me the masses reaching for the shore,
Give be the tempest,
Open up the golden door,
Let freedom ring.