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"When Thunder Comes" for SATB chorus, piano, and opt. percussion

The poor and dispossessed take up the drums
For civil rights—freedoms to think and speak,
Petition, pray, and vote. When thunder comes,
The civil righteous are finished being meek.

Why Sylvia Méndez bet against long odds,
How Harvey Milk turned hatred on its head,
Why Helen Zia railed against tin gods,
How Freedom Summer’s soldiers faced the dread

Are tales of thunder that I hope to tell
From my thin bag of verse for you to hear
In miniature, like ringing a small bell,
And know a million bells can drown out fear.

For history was mute witness when such crimes
Discolored and discredited our times.
Text: J. Patrick Lewis (b.1942)

One Voice Mixed Chorus (St. Paul, MN)
Jane Ramseyer Miller, conductor
Mindy Eschedor, piano
Mu Daiko, taiko

Copyright © 2016 Mari Esabel Valverde. All rights reserved.