stateless (David Lang) – The Crossing

The Crossing
Donald Nally, conductor

The Crossing Votes: 2020
a pre-election project of four new films
more at https://www.crossingchoir.org/2020

stateless
music by David Lang
text by David Lang, after a letter by Rabbi Moses ben Nachman

film by Eric Southern
art by Steven Bradshaw with Nyahzul C. Blanco
audio by Paul Vazquez

I left my family
I left my house
I left my sons and daughters
my heart and my eyes will dwell with them forever
and so I came to this land

#ComeHearNow
what can I tell you about this land?
the more sacred the space
the greater the devastation
even in its destruction
it is a good land

we are all refugees here
we found some ruins of a house
built on pillars of marble
with a marble dome
we volunteered to fix the house
we built a temple there

many people come
from all across the land
they come to see what happened here
those of us who have seen the land destroyed
let us see the land restored

and you, my children
may you deserve all that is good in this world