"Green Finch and Linnet Bird" from Sweeney Todd
by Stephen Sondheim
Green finch and linnet bird,
nightingale, blackbird,
how is it you sing?
How can you jubilate,
sitting in cages,
never taking wing?
Outside, the sky waits,
beckoning, beckoning,
just beyond the bars.
How can you remain,
staring at the rain,
maddened by the bars?
How is it you sing anything?
How is it you sing?
Green finch and linnet bird,
nightingale, blackbird,
how is it you sing?
Whence comes this melody
constantly flowing?
Is it rejoicing
or merely halloing?
Are you discussing, or fussing,
or simply dreaming?
Are you crowing?
Are you screaming?
Ring-dove and robinet,
is it for wages,
singing to be sold?
Have you decided
it's safer in cages,
singing when you're told?
My cage has many rooms,
damask and dark.
Nothing there sings,
not even my lark.
Larks never will, you know
when they're captive.
Teach me to be more adaptive.
Ah, green finch and linnet bird
nightingale, blackbird,
teach me how to sing.
If I cannot fly,
let me sing.