- Here We Can Dream (2007) SATB chorus 5'
- Text: Anne Goetz, based on an interview with Mohamed Hadi
- Commissioned by the Minnesota Chorale, Kathy Saltzman Romey, Artistic Director, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Target Foundation.
- Premiere—2007, by the choir of Saint Paul Central High School, Martha Graber, cond. as part of Bridges 2007: Sing Me a Home.
- Published by ECS Publishing, Boston, MA: www.ecspublishing.com.
Text
The warm sun in the deep-dyed azure sky
Traveled evenly each day, constant as the way
We welcomed foreigners with open arms.
This was home. Kani waa gurigii.*
But one day I came home from work to see the children
All holding guns. Each night I heard the fighting getting closer
And I knew we had to leave.
But here we can dream, here we have hope.
Here we can open our doors to those still waiting in the cold,
And our home becomes their home, too.
This is home.
The sky is bleached to gray;
A bitter wind tears leaves from the trees.
Dark swallows up the day.
But here we can dream, here we have hope.
Here we can open our doors to those still waiting in the cold,
And our home becomes their home, too.
This is home. Kani waa gurigii.
*"This is (or was) home" in the Somali language.
-Anne Goetz, based on an interview with Mohamed Hadi. Used by permission of the author.
Anne Goetz currently attends Harvard University, where she studies English literature and Chinese.