double choir SATB/SATB, unaccompanied

NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER

I am a great lover of double choir music - whether it's from the 16th century to the present. Refugee was written to be performed on a choral tour of northern Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands in the summer of 2024. The work is conceived to be done in an adjacent standing formation, not an antiphonal format.

Text and music by Z. Randall Stroope.

TEXT

A thousand windows, a thousand doors,
Countless eyes our suff'ring ignore.
"They are not like us," whispers are heard.
"Let them pass by, not to disturb."

A thousand windows, a thousand doors, maybe more.

"Mother, I am weak, and cold as stone,
Have we no country, have we no home?
O sister carry me, my strength is gone,
I fear the darkness will outrun the dawn.

A thousand windows, a thousand doors, our suff'ring ignore."

"O mother, I am weak, as cold as stone,
Yet I hear a voice from some unknown."
"Come, my child, your soul has wings,
Fly where eternal water springs."

Forgive their hearts, though cold as stone,
For they are just like us, afraid and alone.
May a thousand windows, a thousand doors
Of Paradise open - the child greet - and restore.