Song for Svirka
words and music by Jane Voss
I. Raise the Rafters
In another time,
We might have come from homes across the fields;
Gathered in our circles,
Busy working with our hands,
We would raise the roofbeams with our song!
Holidays and weddings, celebrations,
How we all would sing,
We’d sing our hearts, our joys and sorrows,
We would make the mountains ring,
Around the seasons we would sing,
And through whatever life would bring us,
Voices joined together made us strong.
Voices raised together made us strong!
Now we come together
From our homes across town;
We drop our daily burdens,
Leave our babies and our men.
We come to raise the rafters with our song!
With echoes of ancestral sisters,
In a circle we will sing,
We’ll join our hearts, our joys and sorrows,
We will make the mountains ring,
Around the seasons we will sing,
And through whatever life may bring us,
Voices joined together make us strong.
Voices raised together make us strong!
II. Our Voices Ring
We joined to learn to lift our voices;
Music was our common ground.
In singing we have grown together;
Now in friendship we are bound.
The separate strains of all our lives
We sing together, sharing,
Our babies being born into
The circle of our caring.
Some of us are bold and some are shy,
We each our different gifts will bring;
Some sing the low and some sing high,
With one accord our voices ring.
Voices hard and voices soft,
Our voices ring both sweet and strong;
Within this circle that we sing,
Our different voices all belong.
Within this circle that we sing,
Our different voices all belong.
copyright © 1986 Jane Voss
Obscure Origins Music (BMI)